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EDITORIAL
There is a paradigm shift in the role of
higher education in national development, particularly
in competence building in the areas of research,
initiative, expansion of technologies, ICT,
science & technology and moral leadership.
The objective of education is to train and condition
the mind of the individual so that she/he can
function effectively in the contemporary context.
The aim of education has been, for time immemorial,
to provide an opportunity for honing the skills
necessary to eke out a livelihood. The teacher
of today may find himself in a very different
set up from that of the yesteryear. What then
are the challenges that these changed conditions
have brought forth? What limitations and handicaps
have they imposed upon the teachers for their
effective functioning? Will they still be able
to discharge the responsibilities that society
expects them to do? To what extent is the situation
in which the pupils find themselves a distracting
factor? These are some of the predicaments the
teacher faces. The new conditions pose a challenge
to their functioning. The exceptional growth
of the population has increased manifold the
demand for education at all levels. With demand
out-matching the means and resources, the quality
of education and individual attention to the
pupil has suffered a serious set-back. The scope
for individualized teacher-student interaction
is radically cut. Therefore, there is a dire
need of trained teachers who are well-informed,
creative, inspiring, research oriented, IT savvy,
as well ass effective managers, and role models.
The need for effective and professionally qualified
teachers is increasing due to various developments
taking place in higher education system because
of the expansion and globalization of higher
education. For making higher education institutions
active hubs of academic activity, the UGC-Academic
Staff Colleges have to envisage their new role,
which, of necessity, has to be multidimensional
and integrative. Hence, professional development
Programmes for teachers will have to be reengineered
and reinvigorated.
National Policy of Education (1986) has
emphasized the importance of motivation in improving
the teaching-learning process. In pursuance
to this policy, UGC has established 62 Academic
Staff Colleges all over the country. By the
end of February, 2009, these ASCs had organized
11135 programmes and imparted training to about
3.62 lac teachers. The Academic Staff College
of Himachal Pradesh University came to existence
in 1989 and organized 302 varieties of programmes
for improving the quality of teaching and research
in different branches of knowledge by imparting
training to 9989 teachers all over the country.
It has attempted to enhance the training and
development process by bringing out an annual
journal, ‘academe’
that contains articles pertaining to varied
issues of higher education pertinent to enrich
necessary dexterity for becoming effective and
professionally competent teachers. Participants’
column contains important subject matter for
the organizers who get feedback for further
refinements. The readers are requested to offer
their valuable comments and suggestions in the
direction so that the journal could be become
more result oriented. They are also requested
to contribute relevant articles for enriching
the subject matter of academe.
Prof. Kulwant Singh Pathania
academe Vol. XIII, No.1, November, 2009
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