By- Correspondent | Date- August 26, 2011

The Rajya Sabha yesterday passed a bill called The National Council of Teachers Education (Amendment) Bill for re-creating a national body to regulate schools and teachers. Under this bill, the powers have been restored to the National Council of Teachers Education (NCTE), a central body whose powers were curtailed by a Supreme Court order in 2008.

The NCTE, established in 1995 to regulate schools and teachers along with qualification of teachers, was reduced to a teacher’s training body in a 2008 Supreme Court judgment. This judgment had left the responsibility of determining teacher’s quality to states.

With this new bill passed yesterday, the NCTE has now the power to govern and lay down principles for appointment of teachers all schools providing pre-primary, primary, upper-primary, secondary, and senior secondary or intermediate education recognized by the central or state governments or any other authority.

It has been understood that this amendment has been made in tune with the right to education (RTE) act. It would be worth interesting to observe the reaction of the state governments to this bill.