Naseem Ahmed, Chairman of NCM (National Commission for Minorities), argued for upgrading knowledge base and teaching methods by suggesting renewed training capsules. He stated that the fact that India doesn’t have a world-class institute of higher learning and the fact that primary education’s prime indicators aren’t encouraging are worrying.

The What and How

Ahmed spoke in New Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia at the international seminar about ‘Teacher Education: Challenges, Opportunities and Strategies.’

He talked about his disappointment that India is lagging behind when it comes to quality of education and universal education while the world is seeing a knowledge explosion. He called India an upcoming and prominent nation, and in this position, our country, compared to developed ones, has some far more serious challenges.

He cited figures and said that there are fewer than 50 students in 39% of the schools and 21% of the teachers teaching in elementary schools are “untrained,” and a mere 18% of the teachers are capable if availing annual in-service training.

Ideas Suggested

Comparing school teachers and college / university professors, Ahmed said that it’s the former who face an identity crisis. He suggested that a “freshly thought training capsules” need to be given to these school teachers in order to update their teaching skills and knowledge base.

From the University of Warsaw (Poland), Professor Joanna Madalinska-Michalak, mentioned in the keynote address that refining teaching as a profession is an international issue.

In her statement, she made a few suggestions, among which one was to work with the media in order to better the present image of professor and the teaching profession.