Shri Sanjay Kumar, Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Education, Govt. of India, on 28th June 2024, inaugurated a two-day National Sensitization workshop on the Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP), National Mission for Mentoring (NMM), and National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST) with a special emphasis on Paragraph 15.5, 15.11 and 5.20 of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The workshop was organised by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), in collaboration with Gautam Buddha University, Greater Noida. It was held at the Gautam Buddha University. It was attended by more than 300 participants, including educational administrators, teachers, teacher educators, heads of the institutions, representatives from State/UT Governments, and policymakers from different apex bodies. The workshop's objective was to sensitize the representatives to the structure and implementation of ITEP, NMM and NPST.

While addressing the participants, Shri Sanjay Kumar emphasized the relevance of ITEP and the role of teachers in shaping the future of the nation. Prof. Pankaj Arora, Chairperson, NCTE, addressed the participants by welcoming them to the event. The Member Secretary of the NCTE, Ms. Kesang Y. Sherpa, addressed the gathering by detailing the journey and broader outlook of ITEP and its alignment with NEP 2020. Prof. Shashikala Wanjari, VC, NIEPA, and Prof. Ravinder Kumar Sinha, VC, Gautam Buddha University, also discussed on the implementation of ITEP in detail. Technical sessions were conducted by Prof. Vandana Saxena and Prof. K. Ramachandran to explore the themes ‘The Evolving Roles of Teachers’ and ‘ITEP in Multidisciplinary Institutions in the Light of NEP 2020’.

The second day of the programme was inaugurated by Prof. Shashikala Wanjari, who illustrated how NMM and NPST are absolute need of the hour for the capacity building and professional development of the in-service teachers. Ms. Kesang Y. Sherpa addressed the gathering with a detailed presentation on NMM. Dr. Meena Rajiv Chandawarker, Chairperson, Southern Regional Committee, NCTE, and Dr. Dibyajyoti Mahanta, Chairperson, Eastern Regional Committee, NCTE, also addressed the participants and contextualized traditional approach to teaching and equipping teachers with 21st-century skills.

The participants delved into technical sessions to acquaint themselves with NMM and NPST by Prof. Sharad Sinha, HoD, Teacher Education, NCERT; Prof. C.K. Saluja, Director, Samskrit Promotion Foundation; Shri D.K. Chaturvedi, Convener, NPST; and Shri Abhimanyu Yadav, Convener, NMM. Participants on both days very effectively engaged in the interactive sessions to exchange ideas and queries related to ITEP, NMM and NPST and their implementation.

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