Shiv Kumar Padha
Prior to 1979 the Teachers Training Schools functioning in Jammu and Kashmir State were entrusted with the function of imparting B.E.C and D.E.ED. Training to the in-service under graduate teachers of the Education Department because, at that time, the professional training in education was not considered as prerequisite qualification for appointment as teacher in the department. The sole purpose of these institutes was to teach theories and philosophies of education, educational psychology, methodology of teaching various subjects being taught in the schools, practice of teaching, class room management, skills of teaching etc. Apart from this the teacher trainees were kept abreast with the day to day changes both in content and methodology.
After the promulgation of the National Policy of Education in 1986, the nomenclature of the District Institute of Education was changed to District Institute of Education and Trainings. These DIETs took into their ambit the pre and in service education and training of the teachers, preparation and modification of the curriculum, preparation of the tools of evaluation, work experience, planning and management for monitoring and evaluating the different policies and programmes of the Education Department, Non Formal and Adult Education (NFE&AE).
The main spirit underlying the formation of DIETs was to create an institute which could update, upgrade and renew the knowledge of the in-service teachers and infuse professional spirit in them. DIETs functioned up to the entire satisfaction and desired level of the MHRD, imparted in-service training to the teachers in all the school subjects, created instruments of flawless evaluations, organised awareness programmes for control of AIDS, over population its hazards and means to combat ,constituted a board to conduct middle standard examinations, encouraged co-curricular activities like competitions in debates seminars quiz tests, essay writing, theme based on the spot painting in the schools.
The DIETs never looked behind in discharging the assigned functions to the utmost satisfaction of the department till ending March 1999.Gradually the tempo of working of the DIETs slowed down due to the adjustments of the teaching faculty enjoying the patronage of political leaders and the bureaucrats which converted these DIETs into, the infirm houses, transit camps for those waiting for their suitable adjustments, dumping houses for the dead wood of the department, a retiring room for those tired of teaching or those who do not want to teach at all, the places suitable for those waiting either for their promotions as principals or for their superannuation. The DIETs which ever remained alive with the hustle and bustle of the trainees (teacher) and that of the resource persons remain deserted because maximum members on staff of the DIETs remain away under one pretext or the other. It is very amazing that in the age of internet and IT many gazetted officers, in order to remain at their home places, are seen delivering letters to the schools in the field personally. There is an army of lecturers from different subjects showcased almost in every DIET when majority of the higher secondary schools especially in the rural areas are suffering badly due to the shortage of the teaching staff resulting into the poor results every year. It is surprising that the teaching as well as the non-teaching staff of the DIETs get their salaries, travelling allowances and periodical increments in time even during the financial crunch in the State, while the teachers of the schools in the field have to wait for months for their monthly salaries.
Before these DIETs become totally defunct and the dumping places for the privileged class of teachers, the Education Department should retain the required number of the teachers in every DIET and provide the surplus to the schools where their services are badly required in the field. In this way the shirkers and the truants can be put to the jobs they have been appointed for. The DIETs should come forward and help improving the quality of education in the schools which is deteriorating day by day otherwise these institutes will become white elephants for the government. It is advisable that the teachers who are surplus in the DIETs should prove an assets and not the liability for the State and should offer their services to the schools where the studies of thousands of poor students are being affected due to the shortage of the teaching staff.
