Teacher Education in India: Virtual Capture of the “Public”

Unprepared teachers and a stagnant teacher education sector characterized the landscape of Indian school education when elementary education was declared a fundamental right, more than a decade ago. A large number of teacher vacancies and the sizeable presence of professionally unqualified teachers posed critical challenges to the task of universalizing quality education. Private teacher education institutions (TEIs) increased manifold in the years preceding the Right to Education Act. The Supreme Court’s Justice Verma Commission noted that over 90% teachers were being prepared in private teacher education institutes, while 80% of elementary school children were enrolled in state schools. There has been a 13% rise in private TEIs since then.