The University Grants Commission (UGC) has launched a capacity-building programme for the holistic development of 15 lakh teachers in higher educational institutes and to inculcate ethics as well as human values, in alignment with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The announcement of the mission was made on the occasion of Teachers' Day last week.
The mission is called the Malaviya Mission-Teacher Training programme. Under it, 111 institutions across India have been identified, which will be called Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Centres (MMTTC). "The teachers will be trained in these institutions. Some of the programmes are offline while others are online. We aim to complete the training of all 15 lakh teachers in the next two to three years," said a UGC official, as per a report by ANI.
The online programme has a duration of two weeks. Holistic education, Indian knowledge systems, academic leadership, governance, research, skill development, inclusivity, technology integration, learning outcomes identification, and assessment are the key themes of the mission. Apart from this, the mission will also develop multidisciplinary and critical thinking abilities in the teachers, the UGC official claimed.
"It prioritises the continuous professional development of faculty, offering a forward-looking orientation across various themes," UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar said. In addition to faculty development, the programme highlights the faculty’s role in institutional development, a crucial aspect of enhancing the quality of higher education, as per ANI.
Officials said that the training content balances an India-centric ethos with a global perspective, equipping faculty with Indian values and modern technologies to address the evolving landscape of higher education. A dedicated portal for faculty members has been registered for the capacity-building programmes.
"The implementation of new approaches to curricular transactions, teaching-learning, pedagogical strategies and assessment methods recommended in the NEP 2020 would be possible through Malaviya Mission and can be most appropriately taken forward through MMTT centres," another UGC official said.