Chandigarh, December 30: To enhance efficiency in thefunctioning of the Directorate of State Council of Educational Research &Training (SCERT) and District Institutes of Education Training (DIETs), thePunjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday gaveapproval for the creation of separate cadres of their personnel.
It was been decided to notify separate rules for personnelof SCERT/DIETs, an official spokesperson said after the Cabinet meeting, whichaccepted the proposal mooted by the School Education department in this regard.
Currently, all the personnel of both SCERT and DIET aredeputed from Directorate of DPI (School Education).
The decision will pave the way for notifying rules of thepersonnel of Group A, B & C Cadres of SCERT/DIETs in compliance with theundertaking given by the state government before the Government of India tohave separate cadres of DIETs to further improve the quality of teachertraining, with the overarching aim raising the bar of quality education forstudents.
Pertinently, a separate cadre is being pursued by theGovernment of India with almost all states in the country. With the launch ofLearning Enhancement Programme of ‘Padho Punjab Padhao Punjab’ project, it hasbecome essential that DIETs are strengthened to maintain close liaison with theclassroom teaching going on in schools, and also to share the experiences ofthe teachers.
Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Teacher Education,DIETs are set up in every district as per GoI’s policy. At present, there are17 DIETs in Punjab (one each in the old districts), while none exist in thenewly created districts of Tarn Taran, Barnala, Pathankot, Fazilka and Mohali.Under the scheme, Central Government contributes 60% and remaining 40% iscontributed by the State Government. The entire expenditure i.e. capitalexpenditure as well as salary of the teachers in a DIET is shared in the sameratio. Currently, DIETs are only providing pre-service training to ETT teachersi.e. the teachers posted in primary schools from Class 1 to 5.