Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that the state government was taking significant steps to reform the education sector aiming to provide better facilities in the government educational institutions.

He said here on Saturday that the state government has taken a decision to refurbish the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) and all the District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) to strengthen the training mechanism for the teachers.

“The SCERT has been elevated as an apex institution for school and teacher training with its administrative control transferred to State Project Director Samgra Shiksha Abhiyan. Similarly, the administrative oversight of DIETs has also been given to the State Project Director, SSA,” said the Chief Minister.

Previously, SCERT was under Higher Education and DIETs were managed by Elementary Education, leading to a lack of clarity in the policy regarding deployment and transfer of teachers in these training institutions, he said, adding that this restructuring provides much needed clarity and functioning of both the entities.

Established in 1954 as the College of Education, SCERT has evolved over the decades, transforming into the State Institution of Education in 1970, and later re-structured as SCERT in 1984.

Its core mission is to enhance the quality of education by providing in-service training to the teachers and other educational personnel.

Additionally, it also intends to serve as a hub for academic research, innovation and motivation by organizing workshops and seminars on various educational issues.

“The re-structuring of SCERT will enable it to function more effectively in providing training to teaching faculties thereby promoting educational transformation through research and innovations,” said Sukhu.

The government has also given a facelift to DIETs, which play a crucial role in providing pre-service and in-service teacher education programmes, as well as conducting state and district level educational research on various issues such as enrollment, retention and gender parity in education.

“Innovative practices of primary and upper primary teachers will be encouraged and shared through regular district level seminars and newsletters,” said the Chief Minister.

DIETs in Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur districts will focus exclusively on in-service training, while other DIETs will be classified into category A and B based on the infrastructure, with selected bridge courses offered in addition to regular training, he informed.

The administrative head of each DIET will be Deputy Director (Higher Education-Inspection) who will be called as Deputy Director, Quality Control, while Principals will handle day-to-day operations, with appointments based on merit and their academic records.

Sukhu said that Himachal Pradesh government remains dedicated to raising educational standards and improving teachers training mechanism across the state.

To adopt the best teaching practices of the world, the State Government has commenced a programme to send teachers abroad for exposure visits, said the Chief Minister.