Why not an IIT for teachers?

We have engineers and doctors and so many professionals abound. But their first step into the world of education is through the primary school teachers, who hand hold, making one literate and able. So what happens when these teachers themselves are lacking, not capable enough to teach? That is precisely the crisis brewing in the public schools of India.

In February 2015, the western state of Maharashtra held its annual evaluation tests for teachers of government-run schools. This was for two group of teachers – those who teach from classes I to V and the other which teach from classes VI to VIII. And the results were pathetic to say the least. In the first category, out of the total registered primary teachers of 2,60,629, only 2562 or 1% passed the exam! And in the second category, of the total registered upper primary teachers of 1,54,201 only 7031 teachers or 4.9% passed! This is the quality of teachers the Govt has today….

This quality is reflecting on the students – though we have achieved the success of 99% of children aged 6 to 14 years officially enrolling in schools, only one  fourth of all children in class III can read a class II text fluently, which is a fall of 5% over four years. And 25% of the children in class III could not recognize numbers between 10 and 99, a fall of 13% over past four years.

We may have achieved universal primary education with 99% children in primary schools but what about quality? Little wonder then that most Indian graduates are unemployable. Just as we have an IIT for churning out the best engineers of India, why not a similar institute to roll out some of the best teachers of India? Why don’t people opt for teaching as a first choice for making a career and not because there was nothing else?