Punjab rolls out DIET revamp plan
Punjab govt to develop 17 DIETs as 'Centres of Excellence' with ₹255 crore program, focusing on teacher training, infrastructure, and academic resources.
Chandigarh The Punjab government has started the process to develop 17 District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) as ‘Centres of Excellence’ to focus on the curricular literacy of teachers, develop an academic resource pool, monitor the implementation of school education plans from pre-school to the secondary stage and run pre-service and in-service education courses.
These teacher education institutes, which have been in dire need of attention for years, will be upgraded over the next four years in a phased manner under a ₹255 crore programme, starting with three DIETs during the current financial year. An amount of ₹15 crore has been earmarked for the upgradation of each DIET by providing high-end infrastructure, modern classrooms, advanced laboratories, state-of-the-art library, counselling and guidance centres, digital resource repository, and residential facilities in addition to adequate academic and non-academic staff, according to school education department officials. The ‘DIETs of Excellence’ project is being jointly financed by the central and state governments on a 60:40 fund-sharing pattern.
“The upgradation plan for DIETs in Ropar, Ferozepur and Ludhiana has been prepared. Once it is approved, we will start work on them. Also, a proposal will be submitted to the Union ministry of education (MoE) soon with regard to teacher education institutes to be taken up next,” one of the officials quoted above said. Punjab has 22 DIETs, of which 17 functional ones have been selected for upgradation into ‘Centres of Excellence’ following a detailed analysis carried out by the MoE and the state government last year.
Reeling under staff, fund shortage
The teacher education institutes were reeling under a crushing shortage of funds and staff, particularly subject experts, affecting efforts to improve the quality of education. Each DIET has a sanctioned academic staff strength of 25, and 79% of posts of these were lying vacant in the state at the start of this year. In a meeting of the project approval board for education sector programmes in February 2024, the Union ministry of education pointed out to the state officials that there is a “high vacancy” of academic positions in DIETs and told them to take immediate steps to fill up the vacant posts on priority. The central ministry has made the release of funds under the scheme contingent upon the filling of existing vacancies. A state government official told HT that the education department is inviting applications regularly and has managed to fill several vacant posts.
Quality gaps and challenges
The MoE, which conducted a study of DIETs across the country to identify the gaps, found staff shortage, inadequate physical infrastructure, insufficient funding, limited research and development facilities, lack of modern technology integration, and absence of convergence and linkages with higher education institutions as major problem areas. A ministry official said these are affecting efforts to improve the quality of education.
The “DIETs of Excellence” will focus on empowering teachers through in-depth training programmes that improve their topic knowledge, pedagogical abilities, and teaching approaches, and be committed to creating and upgrading curricular frameworks, textbooks, and teaching-learning materials to adhere to state or national standards, according to a note on objectives of the scheme. Additionally, these institutions will have research and innovation as crucial components that support evidence-based decision-making and propagate knowledge sharing, resource mobilization, and exchange of best practices and collaboration among universities, schools, and government agencies. Emphasis has also been laid on the integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for creative teaching strategies and individualized learning techniques. DIETs, envisioned in the National Policy of Education-1986, were created by the central government in the early 1990s to strengthen elementary education and support the decentralisation of education to the district level.