TRANSFORMING TEACHER EDUCATION IN THE CONTEXT OF THE VISION OF NEP 2020

Teachers are the real architect of our nation as they frame the destiny of our children. It's because of this reason teaching is one of the most esteemed professions across the globe. In the Ancient education system Teachers were termed as ‘Gurus' as they had unmatched knowledge and intellect level and were people with highest moral character, only those who possess high order thinking skills and intellectual capabilities joined this profession. In the present scenario, undoubtedly the standards of teachers have degraded to a large extent. There are several reasons for this but one major cause is the deterioration of the standards of teacher education system in our country. The nurturing and expansion of poorly regulated private teacher's training institutions in our country has resulted into the commercialization of teacher education, which in turn has resulted into the growth in the numbers of unskilled and inefficient teachers. There is an urgent need to reinstate the dignity attached with teacher and teacher education at the earliest for the all-round development of our nation. The announcement of the National Education Policy on July 29th, 2020 is a great step towards restructuring and revamping the teacher training system in our country. This paper attempts to discuss the recommendations of the National Education Policy and explore various challenges and suggestion for its effective implementation at ground zero.