Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that the national capital would soon have the “country’s first” university dedicated to training teachers. However, his claim falls flat as states like Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and West Bengal already have universities dedicated to educating teachers, which were established back in 2008-2015.
CLAIM
On 9 March, the CM tweeted in Hindi, “The Delhi government will establish the country's first teachers university this year. Where the best teachers of the country and the world will be produced.”
This comes after the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced a budget of Rs16,377 crore towards education. Along with a new education board called the Delhi Board of School Education, he also announced plans for a new university for teacher training in line with the National Education Policy.
TN, Gujarat Already Have Teachers’ University
Contrary to Kejriwal’s claims, Delhi’s teacher training university would not be the first one of its kind in the country.
The Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University was established by the state government exclusively for teachers’ education. It was established under the Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University Act or ‘Act No 33’ of 2008 to “provide for the establishment and incorporation of Teachers Education University” in the state.
Currently, the university offers Bachelor of Education (B. Ed), Master of Education (M. Ed) and Master of Philosophy (M. Phil) degrees and is affiliated with 668 colleges.
Similarly, the Indian Institute of Teacher Education in Gujarat is also dedicated to teacher training and was established in 2010 by then Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
It offers a full range of undergraduate, postgraduate and research (Ph. D. and M. Phil) courses in Education. This includes integrated courses with degrees in Arts or Science.
The West Bengal University of Teachers’ Training, Education Planning and Administration is also dedicated to teachers’ training as well as research in the field of education.
The university was established in 2015 and offers bachelors, masters, Ph.D and M.Phil courses in Education.
Further, a list of institutions dedicated to teachers’ training, affiliated to different boards and universities, and recognised by the National Council for Teacher Education, a statutory body of the central government can be viewed here.
A list of such recognised institutes within Delhi can also be seen here.
Evidently, Kejriwal’s statement that the teachers’ training university planned for Delhi would be the first one in the country is misleading.
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