Delhi Cabinet nod for proposal to set up teacher’s university, admissions to start next year

The Delhi Cabinet Monday approved a proposal for the establishment of a “teachers’ university” in the city. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that admissions to the new university will start in the 2022-2023 academic session.

A proposal for this university had first been announced by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in his 2019 budget speech. He had said it would be focused on researching and developing teacher courses and teacher-training programmes and providing both pre-service and in-service training to teachers.

A proposal for such a university had also been announced in the 2021 budget speech. With the Cabinet’s approval, a ‘Delhi Teachers University’ Bill 2021 will be placed before the state legislative assembly in the coming session.

“Our aim is to prepare excellent quality teachers through this university. It will offer integrated courses. There will be four-year integrated teacher programmes after class XII. These will be BA BEd, BSc BEd and BCom BEd. New generation teachers will be prepared here and when children study here, they will be attached to Delhi government schools so that they receive on the job training throughout the four-year period. They will get good practical and theoretical training there,” said Kejriwal.

According to a government representative, the plan is to set up a campus at Bakkarwala village in West Delhi.

“The University will evolve as a centre for excellence in teacher preparation at both pre-service and in-service stages across school levels, and in the areas of education studies, leadership, and policy… it is envisaged to align with and also bring together the reforms that have been initiated in public school education in Delhi. These reforms range across the various aspects of public school education including infrastructure renewal, curriculum and learning outcomes related reforms, and mentor teacher programme for on-site teacher support, among several others,” read a statement from the government.