Ahead of Teachers’ Day on September 5, the Supreme Court on Thursday (September 3) upheld the National Council for Teacher Education’s power to require Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) to file annual Performance Appraisal Reports, setting aside a 2023 ruling by a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court.
The High Court had held as illegal and arbitrary a September 2019 decision by the NCTE’s Executive Committee requiring recognised TEIs to submit the reports.
The ruling comes amid fresh concerns over the quality of teacher-training institutions. On Thursday, the West Bengal government said it had issued show-cause notices to 450 B.Ed colleges after inspections found major lapses, amid allegations that students from other states were buying degrees without attending classes.
The developments raise a more basic question: who trains India’s teachers, and how does India ensure that the institutions producing them are themselves good enough?
First, what are teacher education institutions?
Teacher education institutions, or TEIs, are colleges, university departments and other recognised institutions that offer professional programmes for prospective teachers. These include the Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed), Bachelor of Education (B.Ed), Bachelor of Elementary Education (B.El.Ed), Master of Education (M.Ed) and integrated teacher-education programmes.
Under the NCTE Act, 1993, the Council is responsible for the planned and coordinated development of teacher education and for determining and maintaining standards in the sector.
So, who regulates these institutions?
TEIs need recognition from the NCTE to offer teacher-education programmes, and must meet prescribed standards on faculty, infrastructure, student intake, curriculum and practical training.
Such recognition is not a one-time clearance. Under Section 12 of the NCTE Act, the Council is tasked with maintaining standards in teacher education, including through performance appraisal systems and enforcing accountability on recognised institutions.
The Performance Appraisal Report, or PAR, is one such mechanism. TEIs are required to submit information about their courses, faculty, enrolment, infrastructure and functioning through the prescribed appraisal process.
How does someone actually become a teacher?
There is no single route to becoming a teacher. A D.El.Ed is a two-year programme aimed at preparing teachers for the elementary stage, while a B.Ed is a professional teacher-training degree usually pursued after graduation. Integrated programmes such as B.El.Ed and the newer four-year Integrated Teacher Education Programme combine subject study with teacher preparation. M.Ed, meanwhile, is an advanced qualification generally pursued by those specialising further in education, rather than a basic qualification for entering school teaching.
The qualifications needed also depend on the stage at which a person intends to teach. For Classes I-VIII, the NCTE prescribes minimum academic and professional qualifications under the Right to Education framework, and candidates must also clear a Teacher Eligibility Test, or TET, where applicable. Recruitment itself is conducted by the relevant state government, school system or other appointing authority.
National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 seeks to reshape this system by moving teacher education into multidisciplinary colleges and universities and making a four-year integrated teacher-education degree the minimum qualification for schoolteachers. In line with that shift, the NCTE’s draft 2025 regulations proposed discontinuing fresh admissions to the four-year B.El.Ed programme from 2026-27 and moving institutions towards the Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP), which combines subject study with professional teacher preparation.
The policy also calls for stronger practicum training through classroom teaching in local schools, and for action against substandard and dysfunctional standalone TEIs.
But what defines a properly trained teacher?
Regulating TEIs is only part of the puzzle: NEP 2020 also called for the development of National Professional Standards for Teachers, or NPST, to spell out what teachers themselves should know and be able to do.
The NCTE’s NPST framework lays out what teachers are expected to know and be able to do, covering professional values, subject and pedagogical knowledge, classroom practice and continued professional development. It also envisages teachers progressing through levels of professional expertise, from Proficient to Advanced and Expert, with the standards intended to inform appraisal, professional development and career progression.
TEIs need recognition from the NCTE to offer teacher-education programmes, and must meet prescribed standards on faculty, infrastructure, student intake, curriculum and practical training. (Express) 
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