NEP 2020: Issues and Challenges Ahead in Teacher Education

NEP 2020 is the first education policy of the 21st century and the successor to his 34-year-old National Policy on Education (NPE) in 1986. Aiming to make both school and university education more inclusive, flexible and interdisciplinary to meet the needs of the 21st century, and to highlight the unique abilities of each student, we aim to bring India to a vibrant knowledge base. Transform society into a global knowledge superpower. The policy was developed via an extensive collaborative process that was unmatched in scope and depth The NEP 2020 policy provides for reforms at all levels of education from school to higher education. NEP aims to increase the focus on strengthening teacher training, reforming the existing exam system, early childhood care and restructuring the regulatory framework of education. Teacher education as a whole needs urgent and comprehensive reform. There is a need to bring greater convergence between professional preparation and continuing professional development of teachers at all stages of schooling in terms of level, duration and structure. Considering the complexity and significance of teaching as a professional practice, it is imperative that the entire enterprise of teacher education should be raised to a university level and that the duration and rigour of programmes should be appropriately enhanced. The challenge of quantity must be met head-on, while ensuring quality and equity. Teachers make the highest impact on quality in the classroom. They are at the heart of education. There is a need for high quality teacher educators. Teachers have to recognise/understand children needs & their requirements, deficiencies, weakness, difficulties, problems & strengths etc to make teaching & learning more interesting and qualitative. This paper discusses the issues and challenges faced by Teacher Education.