ISSUES PERTAINING TO LINGUISTIC MINORITY TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMMES

Abstract

Teacher education is of prime importance among the overall education system. The products shaped by products of teacher education i.e. by teachers, ultimately are sold as Doctors, Engineers, Bureaucrats, Politicians and Academicians etc. The linguistic minorities lack this product (group) of intellectuals. This leads us to think that there is certain lacuna in education / school system in minority languages. One of the major factor of deteriorating school education may be lack of quality teachers in minority languages. This paper tries to look into role, importance of teachers, teacher education especially in Urdu linguistic minority. The reasons for backwardness are discussed at length and simultaneously the provisions made by government are also mentioned. It is expected that the areas discussed in this paper may also help the policy planners to take necessary initiative in future for upliftment of backward sections of the society.

Keywords: Linguistic Minorities, Teacher Education Programmes

Introduction

According to Kothari Commission (1964-66) the destiny of India is being shaped in the four walls of the classroom. Who is the person who has taken up the responsibility of shaping the destiny of nation? What are his/her qualifications? What are his/her limitations and scope? How long is this statement going to be true? These are few of the questions which come to our mind when we think of our teachers in the schools, who are shaping the destiny of nation by educating future citizens of this nation. Simultaneously we are also made to think that a major chuck of population (eg. backward or minorities) which is out of school and does not participate in formal education. Are these people going to make or mar the future of the nation? In this complex situation the policy makers have to redesign the policies based on practical experience, ground realities, integrating all sections of the society. Teachers’, however play an important role in implementation of these policies. Further, National Knowledge Commission opines that the teachers are the single most important elements of the school system, and the country is already facing a sever shortage of qualified and motivated teachers at different level.

The role of teachers can not be over ruled. They are the gross root workers who are dealing with students, curriculum, society and interacting with academics from the society. Their knowledge of curriculum, psychology of learning and teaching/learning methodologies is important for success of teaching and learning process. There is growing population, large number of incumbent students, thereby increasing requirement of schools and teachers. But, practically teachers are few in number, trained teachers are still fewer. There is really a huge shortfall of teachers for linguistic minorities. Hence, it is essential to train the existing teachers and recruit trained teachers. The teacher education programmes have a greater role to play.

Meaning of Teacher Education

Teacher education refers to the policies and procedures designed to equip prospective teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, behaviours and skills they require to perform their tasks effectively in the classroom, school and wider community. (Wikipedia, 2009)

Schooling system in India comprises of pre-school, elementary, secondary and senior secondary stages. The elementary stage is split into primary and the upper-primary stages. Schooling is offered in formal, non-formal and distance modes. Teacher education courses, therefore, are matched with the requirements of teaching-learning for the concerned stage and mode of schooling. In addition to courses for pre-service education of teachers for teaching academic subjects specialised pre-service courses for teaching subjects such as physical education, art and aesthetics are also offered by teacher education institutions. Face-to-face teacher education programmes do not always meet the growing demand of teachers. This situation is met by some universities in offering teacher education courses using correspondence mode.

Historical Perspective of Teacher Education

The role of teacher is being seen important from the time immemorial by all the societies. The recent educationists, teacher educators, policy makers, commissions, committees have emphasised its importance. Teacher training became an integral part of the Indian education system way back in 1856. The Indian Education Commission (1882) approved introduction of separate teacher education programmes for elementary and secondary teachers

The National Policy on Education (1968) has also given the importance of teachers and teacher education. Of all the factors which determine the quality of education and its contribution to national development, the teacher is undoubtedly most important. It is on his personal qualities and character, his educational qualifications and professional competence that the success of all educational endeavours must ultimately depend. (NPE 1968)

The 6th All India Educational Survey carried out by the National Council of Teacher has revealed that in 1993 there were about 900,000 schools and about 4.6 million teachers in the country. By now, teacher education institutions are engaged in preparation of teachers for different school stages.

The status of the teacher reflects the socio-cultural ethos of a society; it is said that no people can rise above the level of its teachers. The government and the community should endeavour to create conditions, which will help motivate and inspire teachers on constructive and creative lines. Teachers should have the freedom to innovate, to devise appropriate methods of communication and activities relevant to the needs and capabilities of and the concerns of the community. (NPE 1986)

The policy, planning and its execution has improved the gloomy face of teachers. Now, it is seen that there is slight improvement in teachers living status, job satisfaction, training of pre and in-service teacher education. The advent of District Institutes of Educations (DIETs), Colleges of Teacher Education (CTEs), Institutes of Advance Studies in Education (IASEs) after 1986 policy has improved the quality of education being imparted. The programmes like District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) started from 1994 and 2003 respective and brought due emphasis on teacher education along with other developments like school infrastructure development. By all these interventions, it can be seen that the aspects of teacher education is being given due importance.

In the wake of such developments the Parliament of India through an Act set up in 1995 the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) and gave it statutory powers for framing regulations and norms for maintaining standards of teacher education in the country.

Education of linguistic Minorities

On the other hand the teacher education in linguistic minority institution is still gloomy. There are very few colleges/institutes/universities, which are offering teacher education in minority languages. It is truer in case of Urdu language. The lack of trained teachers in Urdu Medium hampers teaching and learning in Urdu Schools. The private parties have also not taken initiative in learning the teaching art from Urdu Medium. Hence, the Government has to take major lead in this area of teacher education.

To bring the inclusiveness and upliftment of backward sections of the society, as the citizen of this nation we are required to look into the constitutional provisions for linguistic and religious minorities.

According to Article 29, Any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same.

The sub section 2 of article 29 lays out the guidelines that no citizen shall be denied admission into any educational institution maintained by the State or receiving aid out of State funds on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language or any of them.

Further, the article 30 emphasises the Right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions. According to the 1^st sub section of this article, all minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. Further, the sub-section 2 mentions that the State shall not, in granting aid to educational institutions, discriminate against any educational institution on the ground that it is under the management of a minority, whether based on religion or language.

Reasons for backwardness of Urdu linguistic Minority Education

Although, the government strives for upliftment of all sections of the society by marking constitutional provisions all the citizens do not make use of it. In case if the efforts are made by few enthusiastic leaders the government missionary do not give all the provisions (Sachar Committee, 2006). Hence, the enthusiasm is pulled down automatically. This is why there are very few government run, privately managed Urdu schools resulting in poor demand for teacher education programmes in Urdu medium. There is no equal representation of Urdu teacher trainees at all levels even in general teacher education institutes. When the production of good teachers is less then only available teachers do not justify the social requirement. Thereby the quality of teacher education is brought down.

According, to the data available about teacher education institutes on Department of Secondary and Higher Education website following is the total number of teacher education institutes in India.

Table showing Number of Teacher Education Institutes

No. of Districts	Number of proposed			Sanctioned Number of
No. of Districts	DIETs/DRCs	CTEs	IASEs	DIETs/DRCs	CTEs	IASEs
599	571	104	31	529	104	31

The above data is of the public institutes which are offering programmes in local state languages. There is hardly any faculty which is offering education through Urdu Medium in the above mentioned institutes. Moreover, there is no purely Urdu Medium teacher education institutes in the above mentioned list of data. In such a situation both the pre and in – service training of teachers in Urdu Medium suffers.

While Urdu was never exclusively a Muslim language, it is said to have suffered because of its identification with Muslim Community…… The identification of Urdu as a language of Muslims in independent India an its politicisation has ensured that its development is relegated to the background. An important area where this neglect of Urdu is visible in schooling and education. Urdu medium schools bear this out. Lack of Urdu Medium schools, the poor quality of teaching in them, vacancies for teachers unfilled for several years ….. (Sachar Committee 2006)

The fact that lack of Urdu teachers training is more aggregated as the Madarsas, through which the community ensures that its future generations acquire knowledge of Islam, have become a symbol of Muslim identity in India. The Madarsa Schools have played an important role in preservation of Urdu language, culture and its identity. Schools of such crucial nature have teachers who are untrained. In the Madarsa systemt, the passouts of these schools become teachers to new learners without undergoing training. It is a fact that these teachers are not being trained in modern education. They are not following new scientific curriculum. Inservice training centres are established at three Centres for Promotion of Urdu Medium Teachers (CPDUMTs) across the nation in three Universities Viz., Jamia Milllia Islamia, Aligarh Muslim University, Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU). Their major work is training of inservice teachers. However, they do cater to needs of Urdu teachers first and then to Madarsa teachers.

It is a well known fact that only portion of Urdu speaking school children (generally Muslims) are attending schools. Among all the school going age children a major portion i.e. 4% is attending regular madarsa system which is being handled by untrained Madarsa teachers. Apart from this as religious requirement almost all children attend Madarsa as evening school. Government is required to design new strategies of training these Madarsa teachers and equip them with modern curriculum. The efforts of the present Union Human Resource Development Minister regarding formation of National Level Madarsa Board is being hampered by non-unanimity of Muslim Members of Parliament and people from all factions of Muslim Community. All such members are required to sit together, ponder and design new strategy to bring alive National level Madarsa Board. This will help in proper teacher training for Madarsa teachers in particular and Urdu teachers in General. However, this might be taken as an opinion of the authors, where as final decision may be taken by religious and political leaders keeping academic and religious needs in mind.

Unlike the other linguistic communities the Urdu speaking community is scattered over a wider range across the nation. Hence, it is quite essential that a distance education component be utilised in meeting the challenges. A national level set up and hookup may be established so that training programmes can be beamed/aired by experts and learners (student teachers / in – service teachers) can learn from distant. The services of Information Communication Technologies like EDUSAT and internet may be utilised for this purpose. The national knowledge commission has also emphasised use of distance education in mainstream. It is said that the training and orientation programmes must be conceptualised to enable educators and administrators to effectively utilise technology to cater to diverse learners’ needs.

In few states the Urdu Communities have taken initiative in establishment of Teacher Education institutes. If the institutes are formed by such communities then they will be aware of respective needs. The institutes should frame need based curriculum without deviating much from the national curriculum framework of NCTE. This will help in proper designing and implementing needs of the needy community. Lack of expert teacher educators is also an important problem. Proper teacher educators’ training programmes are to be designed. Existing teacher educators are required to take up initiative in research in their respective areas of work. The programmes so offered are to be internally and externally evaluated for the betterment and development. Government has also to take up initiative in such training programmes as private parties may not take initiative in programmes which are non-profit making.

Efforts of National level bodies for promotion of teachers

The draft of national curriculum framework for teacher education (2009) speaks about Primary, Secondary, Teacher Education, Inclusive Education, Sustainable development, Community Knowledge in Education, Information Communication Technology in School and e-learning, but it is silent on teacher education of linguistic minorities. In these circumstances a separate Urdu teachers training board has to be established. Let us examine whether there are any national level bodies which are working for the cause of upliftment of teacher education in Urdu Medium.

The Taraqqi-e-Urdu Hind Bureau, National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language established under Government of India and State Urdu academies are functioning for promotion of Urdu language, Literature and Culture but are not directly working for Urdu and Urdu teachers / teacher education.

The MANUU which has also started working for the upliftment of Urdu language has played significant role in producing teachers in Urdu Medium. The University has commenced its teacher education programme from 2003 with the advent of D.Ed. in its regular mode. The University further started its B.Ed. (2005) programme in campus and at three colleges of teacher education located at Bhopal, Srinagar and Darbhanga. A total of about 450 teachers are being produced in regular mode. A M.Ed. programme has also commenced from 2007, which produces 25 students per year. In its distance mode the University has 7 B.Ed. (DM) programme centres and produces about 700 teachers. The teachers are being trained and evaluated in Urdu Medium. The courses are duly recognised by NCTE. The products of this University are getting jobs appearing competitive exams in their respective state. In addition to this the CPDUMT is also training in-service teachers from different parts of India. The Madarsa teachers are also being given training in various parts of the nation by this Centre.

In conclusion, the shortfalls observed from different parts of the teacher education programmes are being filled by MANUU for teacher education in Urdu Medium. It is presumed that the University will set up colleges of teacher education in each of the states of the nation and take initiative in training of all the Urdu teachers. Moreover, all the states will also take initiative in teacher education programmes of Urdu teachers in their respective states, in turn improving school education. Further, a lead for initiation on Madarsa education board is also expected from various corners.

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ISSUES PERTAINING TO LINGUISTIC MINORITY TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMMES

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