Lok Sabha Question No. 196 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-11-18
Subject: NISHTHA Programme
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Heena Vijaykumar Gavit, Shrirang Appa Barne, Vinayak Bhaurao Raut, Hemant Patil

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 196 TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.11.2019

## NISHTHA Programme

196. DR. HEENA GAVIT: SHRI SHRIRANG APPA BARNE: SHRI VINAYAK RAUT: SHRI HEMANT SRIRAM PATIL:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state: (a)  whether  the  Government  has  launched  the  Integrated  Teachers'  Training Programme  or National Initiative for School Head's and Teachers' Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA); (b) if so, the details thereof along with the aims and objectives behind this initiative; (c) whether the Government has fixed any criteria for selecting teachers for training and the number of teachers enrolled, State/UT-wise; (d) whether the Government has developed any framework to check the quality of teachers at school and higher education level and if so, the details thereof; and (e) the further steps taken by the Government to promote integrated training for the

- teachers so as to develop quality education in schools?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SHRI RAMESH POKHRIYAL 'NISHANK')

(a) to (e): Yes Sir. The Department of School Education and Literacy has launched a National Mission to improve learning outcomes at the Elementary level through an Integrated Teacher Training Programme called NISHTHA - National Initiative for School Heads' and Teachers' Holistic Advancement under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha in 2019-20. The aim of this training is to motivate and equip teachers to encourage and foster critical thinking in students, handle diverse situations and act as first level counsellors.  They will be oriented on and develop their  skills  on  various  aspects  related  to  Learning  Outcomes,  Competency  Based Learning  and  Testing,  Learner-centered  Pedagogy,  School  Safety  and  Security,

Personal-social  qualities,  Inclusive  Education,  ICT  in  teaching-learning  including Artificial  Intelligence,  Health  and  well-being  including  yoga,  Initiatives  in  School Education including library, eco club, youth club, kitchen garden, School Leadership qualities, Environmental Concerns, Pre-school, Pre-vocational Education and School Based Assessment in a joyful learning manner.

This  integrated  programme  will  cover  around  42  lakh  participants  covering  all teachers  and  Heads of Schools at  the  elementary  level  in all  Government  schools, faculty members of State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs), District  Institutes  of  Education  and  Training  (DIETs)  as  well  as  officials  and Resource Persons from Block Resource Centres (BRCs) and Cluster Resource Centres (CRCs) in all States and UTs. National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has been notified as an Academic Authority  under  Section  23(1)  of  the  Right  of  Children  to  Free  and  Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 to lay down the minimum qualifications required for a person  to  be  appointed  as  a  teacher.  Accordingly  the  NCTE  has  notified  the minimum qualifications vide notification dated 25th August, 2010 as amended from time to time. This massive capacity building programme has been integrated with technology to ensure  smooth  facilitation,  availability  of  digital  content  and  technology  enabled teaching methods to support the teachers. A Mobile App and Learning Management System (LMS) have been developed by NCERT (https://nishtha.ncert.gov.in/). LMS is  being  used  for  registration  of  Resource  Persons  and  Teachers,  dissemination  of resources, training gap and impact analysis, monitoring, mentoring and measuring the progress online.

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