New Delhi: The National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT), which is celebrating its golden jubilee celebration, would be accorded university status, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal has said.
He said it would not only enable the NCERT to address diverse issues and upcoming challenges in education sector, but also help its teachers draw professor level salary.
"I strongly suggest that we should work very hard to ensure that the university status to NCERT is brought about as quickly as possible," he said at a function and emphasised that it should be made a "center of education".
The status will also guide other organisations in this country to take the agenda of NCERT and its regional units forward.
He noted that scholarship amount paid under the prestigious National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) scheme is a "farcical" Rs 500 per month and assured to "raise" the amount.
According to officials, the university status will enable NCERT confer BEd, MEd degrees and PhDs through its five regional educational colleges.
Recalling Prime Minister's Independence Day address where he disclosed plans to set up a commission to look at the new vision of education in 21st century, Sibal suggested that NCERT should also be an integral part of such a proposal.
Besides, he favoured extending the Inspire scholarship of the Ministry of Science and Technology among the students also.
Yogendra Yadav, a member of National Advisory Council for implementation of the RTE Act in 2010 and a well-known psephologist beside an NTSE winner, suggested that the scholarship amount be raised.
The Minister, while assuring Yadav that he will look into his demand, felt the problem "is with the Finance Ministry which has to clear the schemes and is not with the HRD Ministry".
Sibal, who initiated reforms process in the examination system, said a national level campaign must be launched for teachers to understand the essence of the 'continuous and comprehensive evaluation' process in the education system introduced by CBSE.
The ultimate objective, he said is to "carry out a national campaign to make teacher understand that we must move away from a marks-centric examination system to evaluating the genius of a child, which encompasses personality".
Stating that disparities exist in appointment of teachers in various states and salaries, he suggested bringing about "cohesion" in the entire system and said the 12th Plan will have a national mission on teacher education.
The Planning Commission, he said, has endorsed this idea.
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