Teacher Education in India: Challenges and Suggestions Anshuman Jena

: Teacher education encompasses all the components that are designed to give student teachers the fundamental ability for which they can carry out their jobs in the real world. The present study made an effect to study the teacher education in India with special reference to challenges and suggestions to resolve the challenges. The study highlighted about the different kind of teacher education program around the nation along with challenges such as lack of human resources, Inappropriate teaching internship, lack of supervision, attitudinal barrier, incompetent teacher educators, lack of infrastructure, admission procedure, lack of professionalism, funds, qualification issues and some suggestions are pointed out to maintain the standard of Teacher Education in India. This study also includes the major recommendations of NEP (2020) with regard to teacher education.


INTRODUCTION
Teachers are the pillars of any country as they are the one in which hand the entire destiny of a country rests upon.They are the most important element of any educational program as they are responsible for providing alternate learning experiences to the students in the class.There is a saying that "Teachers are born not made" but actually "Teachers are made not born" and for this education of the teacher is responsible.The main objective of any teacher education program is to equip all the teachers with essential skills which help to build the personality of a teacher.Both Content knowledge as well as pedagogical knowledge is important on the part of a teacher as it helps a teacher in designing lessons for the students.A statutory entity of the Indian government, the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) oversees teacher education in the country.Teacher education is defined by NCTE as a program of instruction, research, and preparation for teaching from pre-primary to higher education levels.Teacher Education is very important as it makes the prospective teachers and teacher educators competent about child psychology and it develops a proper attitude towards teaching which gives selfconfidence in the teachers.In order to maintain the quality of teacher education various policies, committees, commission have made various recommendations.So our duty is now to look after the issues in ongoing teacher education program and to work in this regard so that different issues related to teacher education can be addressed before time and in this way we can promote the quality of teacher education.

Diploma in Art Education (Visual Arts)
Preparing teachers to teach visual arts up to class VIII is the goal of this pre-service teacher education program.To be considered for admission to this program, candidates must have secured at least 50% of their marks in visual arts, as an elective subject, in their 12th grade or equivalent.

Diploma in Art Education (Performing Arts)
It is a pre-service teacher education program which aims to prepare teachers to teach performing arts up to class VIII.Candidates with at least 50% marks in 12 th or its equivalent with music/dance/theatre as a elective subject are eligible to take admission to this program.

Master of Education (M.Ed.)
It is a two year full time teacher education program which prepares the teachers to teach the trainee teachers and other students at various levels.Candidates having at least 50% marks in B.Ed. or graduate with D.El.Ed.(50% in each) are eligible for the admission.

Master of Physical Education (M.P.Ed.)
The purpose of the Master of Physical Education (M.P.Ed.) program is to prepare physical education teachers at various levels.In physical education departments at universities and colleges, they can work as assistant professors, directors, sports officers, or teacher educators.Its duration is two years.Applicants are eligible for the program if they have secured at least 50% marks in B.P.Ed. or B.Sc. in health and physical education.The qualifying marks for reservation students are lenient in accordance with the guidelines established by the central and state governments for the aforementioned teacher education programs.

MAJOR CHALLENGES IN TEACHER EDUCATION
As teacher training is essential hence to impart quality education to the trainee teachers the following challenges must be addressed before time.Some of the challenges are listed below.

Lack of human resources
One of the major problem which we are going through is shortage of teachers.Due to lack of teachers it is difficult to impart quality instructions to the students.Hence the pupil teachers are unable to get continuous guidance and support.

Inappropriate teaching internship
The most important component of any teacher education program is practice teaching.But the thing is that due to shortage of pedagogy teachers the pupil teachers are not getting proper guidance.So that they face many problems during classroom transactions and failed to develop command on pedagogy part which is a big concern.

Lack of Supervision
The supervision for practice teaching should aim at guiding the pupil teachers in learning to organize their content, planning their lessons, techniques of assessment and essential skills.But at present their lesson plans are checked superficially also there is no class observation by the concerned pedagogy teachers for which the students are not getting proper feedback which is a big issue.

Attitudinal barrier
The quality of teacher education is steadily declining because some of us view teaching as a secondary career.Students with this mindset approach everything with a casual attitude and lack the motivation to understand the subjects covered in teacher education.

Incompetent teacher educators
As now it is said that besides content and pedagogical knowledge a teacher should be technology savvy as today's age is the digital age and to meet the current requirement of society we have to make up-todate ourselves.Hence those are who not that much familiar with the technology face problems in dealing with the student teachers.6. Lack of Infrastructure Due to lack of Infrastructures sometimes it is not possible to maintain the quality of teacher education.In some institutions there is no ICT lab, Psychology lab, library etc. which are important for the student teachers.

Admission Procedure
It has been observed that certain educational institutions use career marks as a criterion for selecting students, whereas other educational institutions are conducting entrance examinations Thus, the selection process is not consistent.Hence the standard of teacher education program is significantly imp-acted by this.

Lack of Professionalism
It is essential to be up-to-dated on a daily basis so that we will be able to know about the daily happenings around the globe.Only by confining ourselves within the books or syllabus we can't provide quality education to the student teachers.In order to be professional a teacher educator have to read journals, magazines, current affairs, etc or he or she can join conferences, webinars to enhance his/her outlook.

Lack of Funds
A shortage of funding prevents an institution from providing workshops and in-service training for teacher educators, which eventually lowers the standard of teacher education.

Monitoring of the institutions
Monitoring of the teacher education institution is important nowadays as there are some institutions which are not recognized by NCTE still they are taking the admission of the students and they are more oriented to money making rather than the educational growth of the students (Dodiya, 2018).

Qualification of Teacher Educators/Assistant Professors
Qualifications and eligibility criteria for appointing teacher educators is changing frequently.It is noticed that sometimes the recruiting body is lowering the qualification.Hence by lowering the qualifications how can we expect to get the teachers of higher quality?(Bala, 2018).

SUGGESTIONS Some suggestions to overcome the challenges:
• Workshops, In-service training should be organized for the teacher educators time to time to maintain the quality of teacher education.• Stricter requirements for affiliation and an efficient monitoring system by NCTE are necessary to uphold the decorum of teacher education in India.• The curriculum needs to be changed periodically to meet the needs of both society and the pupils.
• There should be a common admission procedure in order to admit the students in various teacher education programs.Content knowledge, general awareness, reasoning ability along with teaching aptitude can be assessed prior to the admission.• The qualification of Teacher Educators or Assistant Professors to teach the student teachers should be decided strictly as per the NCTE norms.• In order to revitalize India's teacher education institutes, funds and other resources should be made available.• To preserve the standard of teacher education in India, timely appointments of Assistant Professors or Teacher Educators are required.• The trainee teachers' evaluations have to be continuous and comprehensive.So that they will be able to know their strength and weakness and accordingly they can improve themselves.The nature of feedback should be constructive.• Internship period can be increased a little bit to make the student teachers more familiar with the school as well as class environment.• Teacher Educators should integrate different methodologies as well as approaches to facilitate the students.Traditional approach of teaching should be avoided as far as possible.• By 2030, all standalone teacher education institutions will become interdisciplinary ones in order to provide the four-year integrated teacher education program.• By 2030, a 4-year integrated B.Ed. degree will be the minimal need for teachers in schools to instruct pupils at different levels.• To uphold the consistent standards for teacher education in India, admission to the pre-service teacher training program will be conducted through the National Testing Agency (NTA).• For teachers' ongoing professional development, the usage of online platforms such as SWAYAM/DIKSHA for online training will be promoted.• To guide the teachers, a National Mission for Mentoring will be formed, and senior/retired faculty members will be the mentors.An overall analysis reveals that if the NEP (2020) recommendations on teacher education are properly implemented at the local level, it will contribute in improving the quality of teacher education program in India.

CONCLUSION
One of the most significant educational programs is the teacher education program.There will be challenges or issues in a programme but the most important thing is solutions.Our duty is to face all these challenges and find out the proper remedies beforehand.So that all issues can be addressed and the standards of teacher education program will remain maintained.In the field of teacher education numerous policies, committees, commissions, and research articles also occasionally suggest valuable points but everything is documented in writing.It is up to us that how effectively we are taking the advantage of such good points and work in this regard for its implementation in order to preserve the caliber of teacher preparation programs across the nation.
INDIA Diploma in early childhood education program (D.E.C.Ed.)The DPSE program is a two-year educational program recognized by NCTE.It aims at preparing teachers for preschool programmes.Candidates with at least 50% marks in12 th or equivalent are eligible to apply for the program.However admission to this program is as per the norms laid down by NCTE and govt.from time to time.Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed.)Diploma in Elementary Education is two-year (full-time) educational program.This course is recognized by NCTE.Minimum eligibility to take admission in this program is 12 th .However selection of the candidates to this program is solely based upon merit and as per the norms laid down by NCTE and govt.from time to time.Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.)It is a two-year, full time degree to prepare the teachers from upper primary level to Secondary level and higher secondary level.Admission to this program is done as per the norms laid down by NCTE and govt.from time to time.Candidates are eligible to enroll in this program if they have at least 55% of their marks in either the bachelor's or master's degree.Diploma in Physical education program (D.P.Ed.)An intensive two-year curriculum called the Diploma in Physical Education prepares instructors of Physical education for primary school teaching.To apply for this program, candidates must have secured at least 50% of marks in their 12 th grade or comparable grade.Integrated B.A. B.Ed. /B.Sc.B.Ed.It is a flagship teacher education program recognized by NCTE.It allows the students to complete their graduation along with B.Ed. at a time.The duration of this program is 4 years.The purpose of this curriculum is to get teachers ready for upper primary and secondary education.Integrated B.Ed.-M.Ed.It allows a student to complete his/her B.Ed. and M.Ed. at a time in three years.Candidates having postgraduate degree in the humanities, social sciences, or sciences with a minimum of 55% marks are eligible for the program.Currently, In Odisha there are four universities who are running this program-Fakir Mohan University, Balosore, Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanjadeo University, Mayurbhanj, Sambalpur University, Sambalpur and Rajendra University, Balangir.
• Email: editor@ijfmr.comIJFMR240216309 Volume 6, Issue 2, March-April 2024 5 RECOMMENDATIONS OF NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY (2020) ON TEACHER EDUCATION Some of the key recommendations of NEP (2020) regarding Teacher Education are listed below.• NEP (2020) has placed emphasis on the Integrated Teacher Education Program.