NEHU to start ambitious 4-yr teacher education programme

SHILLONG, April 26: The North-Eastern Hills University (NEHU) will be starting a four-year Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP) from the academic session of 2024-2025, which will be a full time course comprising eight semesters.
It may be noted that NEHU recently received the approval of the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE), New Delhi, to start this four-year ITEP course after Senior Secondary (+2).
The varsity aims at preparing committed, responsible and professional teachers.
Talking to reporters here on Friday, NEHU Vice Chancellor, Prof Prabha Shankar Shukla said that this programme is intended to result in a paradigm shift in teacher preparation.
He informed that the curriculum of this four-year course is designed inculcating the world’s best practices in the field of teacher education sector. “This is a specialised course with integration of pedagogy and content, along with the sustained engagement with liberal disciplines of knowledge and field of education. Opportunity for vertical mobility is visualised through this programme,” the NEHU VC said.
According to him, teacher’s education is important to create a pool of schoolteachers who will be responsible to shape and mould the future of the younger generations. “Recognising teachers will need training in high quality content as well as pedagogy. This is offered by NEHU so as to cater to all teaching aspirants and prepare competent teachers for high quality education in Meghalaya,” Prof Shukla said.
He said that this four year course is at par with the NEP 2020 and a student’s centric course since they can exit after the first year to receive the certificate course, even as he added that they can exit in the second year to receive the diploma course certificates.
He further stated that the students can exit in the third year to receive their degree and they will have the full-fledged B.Ed degree after the completion of the full-time course of eight semesters.
Meanwhile, HOD of the Department of Education at NEHU, Prof BB Kharbirymbai said that the beginning of this new course has paved way for the students to get quality education to become responsible and able teachers in the future.
“As per the NEP 2020, there will be no more teachers’ education programme by 2030 and there will only the ITEP. Only those who complete the ITEP will be appointed as teachers in the various institutes and schools,” she said.
Prof Kharbirymbai said that ITEP has four variants — preparatory, foundation, middle and secondary.
NEHU, as per Kharbirymbai, has received the approval to start the four year course of the secondary level and not the other three variants.
“We have the qualified teachers in the university in both the campuses to teach ITEP secondary level course,” the HOD of the Department of Education said.
She informed that the secondary stage includes grades 9, 10, 11 and 12.
Prof Kharbirymbai said that the ITEP course will be conducted in a semester system with 15-16 weeks of teaching and learning activities, excluding end semester examinations.
A semester will consist of a minimum of 96 working days excluding end semester examinations.
Each working week will have a minimum of 40 hours of instructional/ contact time. Each academic year will consist of two semesters.