Introduction:

While all the inputs listed in the preceding paragraph are crucial, the last two are
especially so. About teachers, the Education Commission (1964-66) had observed, “of all
the factors that influence the quality of education… the quality, competence and character
of teachers are undoubtedly the most significant”. But these in turn depend substantially
on the quality of training and other support provided to them. The importance of the last
input mentioned in the preceding para viz. academic and resource support-can therefore
hardly be over-emphasized. Until the adoption of the NPE, this support in the area of
elementary education was being provided largely at the national and State levels only by
institutions like NCERT, NIEPA and SCERTs. Likewise in the area of adult education, this
support was being provided by the Central Directorate of Adult Education at the national
level, and by State Resource Centres (SRCs) at the State level. Below the State level, there
were elementary teacher education institutions but their activities were confined mostly to
pre-service teacher education. The physical, human and academic resources of most of the
institutions were inadequate even for this limited role. They also tended to adopt teaching
practices, which were not in consonance with the ones they prescribed to prospective
teachers. There were certain larger problems as well e.g. courses of study being out-dated.
By the time of adoption of the NPE, elementary and adult education systems were
already too vast to be adequately supported by national and State level agencies alone. The
NPE implied their further expansion as also considerable qualitative
improvement. Provision of support to them in a decentralized manner had therefore
become imperative. The NPE and POA accordingly envisaged addition of a third-district
level-tier to the support system in the shape of District institutes of Education and Training
(DIETs). With this, expectation would be of wider quantitative coverage as well as
qualitatively better support as these Institutes would be closer to the field, and therefore
more alive to its problems and needs.
Pursuant to the provisions of NPE on teacher education, a centrally sponsored
Scheme of Restructuring and Reorganization of Teacher Education was approved in October
1987. One of the five components of the Scheme was establishment of DIETs. Draft
guidelines for implementing the DIET component were circulated to States in October 1987
and have, together with certain subsequent circulars, formed the basis for its
implementation so far. Till October 1989, Central assistance had been sanctioned under the
Scheme for setting up a total of 216 DIETs in the country.

Objectives of DIET:
 To facilitate the Elementary Education, School Education, SSA and RMSA to make
every school a resourceful learning organization where every child is welcome and
his / her learning needs and emotional needs are met.
 To implement child-centric curriculum, syllabus for Standard I to XII.
 To sensitize concerned authorities in the district on the rights of children to free and
compulsory education.
 To function as District Resource Centers, extended training centers and District unit
of SCERT.
 To provide resource support to SSA and RMSA in designing training programme and
providing training to District level trainers and teacher educators.
 To forge linkages with institutions of Higher education, to promote curricular
changes in Teacher Education based on; National Curriculum Frame Work of Teacher
Education, 2009.
 To revise Teacher Education source books at the elementary level incorporating the
latest state guided reforms in evaluation (i.e.,) Continuous and Comprehensive
Evaluation (CCE).
 To provide academic monitoring support services, professional support in terms of
academic research and extension services to all the stakeholders in the field of
education in the district.
 To help all the Schools to implement the developmental policies and welfare
measures of the State Government to nurture the holistic development of the
personality of children.
 To facilitate school heads to become instructional supervisors and ensure quality
learning at all levels of schooling.
 To help schools guarantee Universalization of Elementary and Secondary Education
to all students who join Government and Aided schools.
 To enhance the rapport with National Research Academic organizations such as
NCERT, Regional Institute of Education (RIE), national University for Education
 Planning and Administration NUEPA), Gandhigram Rural University, Dindigul,
Mother Theresa Women’s University, Kodaikanal, Lakshmi College of Education,
Dindigul, Ramanujam Institute of Mathematics, Chennai and other major institutes
in the district and use the expertise gained in updating the professionalism of DIET
faculty and practicing teachers at large.
 To scout the outstanding class room processes and disseminate the best practices
among all the teachers
 To assist teachers, through BRCs and CRCs in undertaking action researches and find
unconventional solutions to classroom issues.
 To evolve ICT based training data management to record individual teacher profiles
and provide need based academic support to influence lasting changes in knowledge,
skills and attitudes.
 To serve as a district disseminating centre of Educational Research and Innovations.

Mission & Vision of DIET:

District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) were envisioned in the National
Policy of Education, 1986, and were created by the Government of India, Ministry of Human
Resource Development in the early 1990s to strengthen elementary education and support
the decentralization of education to the district level. DIETs were conceived as the third
addition- district level- tier to the support system, which would be closer to the field, and
therefore more alive to its problems and needs.
DIET is acting as a Centre of Excellence in the state of Kerala. All DIETs are leading
various innovative practices of their own and with the convergence of other agencies
working in the field of Education. All these programmes are focusing on Quality Education.
The Integrated Scheme for School Education envisages a strong district institution
that would support pre-service and in-service work with teachers at the school education
level. To support the universalisation of quality education and achieve quality in adult and
life-long education, DIETs are visualized as a way to infuse the system with the following
essential inputs:
 Provision of Pre-service and In-service Teacher Education Programmes.
 Organizing District level and State Level Educational Researches on issues of
enrolment, retention, achievement, gender parity, proficiency and Dropouts.
  Facilitating Collaborative Action Researches to enable practising teachers to address
classroom issues.
 Scouting Innovative Practices of Primary/Upper Primary teachers and disseminating
them among their colleagues by organizing periodical District Level Seminars and
releasing News bulletins which carry information on Innovative classroom processes.
 Providing Resource Support to Non-Formal Education Sector by extending DIET
expertise in developing curriculum and supplementary Learning Materials to adult
learners.
 Designing and developing trainer manuals for Anganwadi workers and for
addressing Social concerns such as Crisis and Disaster Management, Gender
Sensitivity, Leadership Manual for School Heads etc.

Roles of DIET:
With the background given in the preceding sections, a DIETs Mission could be
briefly stated in the following terms: -
“To provide academic and resource support at the grass-roots level for the success
of the various strategies and programmes being undertaken in the areas of elementary and
adult education, with special reference to the following objectives: -
Elementary Education:-
 Universalisation of Primary/Elementary Education.
 Adult Education
 NLM targets in regard to functional literacy in the 15-35 age group.
The above is a general mission statement. It will have to be translated into specific
goals for the DIET, so as to suit the needs of individual states and districts, and will be
ultimately operationalised through specific performance norms set for individual DIETs.
Pace-setting Role:-
Pursuit of excellence would have to inform all activities of the DIETs, in which
context, it will have two inter-related aspects:-
 Excellence in the Institute’s own work.
 Helping the elementary and adult education systems in the district, in achieving
excellence.
 As far as the first aspect is concerned, efforts will be made to provide to DIETs all
necessary physical and manpower resources. But it will be for them to harness these and
other available resources in the best possible manner, so as to achieve and promote
excellence.
In this context, DIETs will also have a very important pace setting role to play. They
will be expected to become models for other educational institutions in the district in terms
of meticulous, efficient and effective planning and execution of functions, harmonious and
creative organizational climate, maintenance of a clean and attractive campus etc.
Child Centered Approach:-
A warm welcoming and encouraging approach, in which all concerned share a
solicitude for the needs of the child, is the best motivation for the child to attend school and
learn. A child-centered and activity-based process of learning should be adopted at the
primary stage.
Para 14 of Chapter II of the POA states that “by making Elementary Education child-
centered, we would be introducing a long-awaited reform in the system. The most
important aspect of this reform will be to make education a joyful, innovative and satisfying
learning activity, rather than a system of role and cheerless, authoritarian instruction”.
In the case of Adult Education Programmes also, it is clear that functional literacy
should be imparted to adults in a participative, learner-active mode.
The above statements contained in the NPE and POA have profound implications for
programmes of teacher education and training of instructors of adult and non-formal
education. The child or learner centered approach necessitates a fundamental change in
the manner of curriculum transaction. The challenge is an especially daunting one in view
of the special characteristics of our system-high pupil-teacher ratio, multi-grade teaching,
in-adequate physical facilities, and so on. The role of the teacher/instructor would now be
no longer one of transmitting readymade knowledge to the learner, but, instead, that of a
designer and facilitator of learning experiences, a manager of instruction and learning
resources, and an active contributor to the all-round development of the learner.
All programmes of pre-service and in-service teacher education and of training
AE/NFE personnel in the DIET would be so designed as to train the teacher/instructor in
transacting curriculum, keeping the learner at the centre of the teaching-learning
process. If the DIET is to achieve this, it follows that it will have to transact its own
programmes in the same learner-centered mode, which it would expect of its trainees. This
basic approach would imbue the transaction of all programmes in a DIET. Some of the
implications of this would be as follows:
 Programmes will be need based. Even within group of trainees/participants,
individual differences and needs will be identified and catered to.
 Trainees will be enabled to experiment, discover, learn, practice and innovate for
themselves, rather than being lectured to. Learning activities will be suitably
organised, in individual and group modes.

 Maximum possible use will be made of the local environment in the learning
process. Curricula and learning activities will be suitably related to it.
 Good work done by trainees will be duly recognized, encouraged, displayed and
publicized.
 The DIET will itself adopt the attitude of a “life-long learner” rather than that of an
oracle or know-all. It would receive as much from the ‘field’ as it would endeavor to
give to it. The district will serve as the ‘school’ for its learning experiences, while it
may carve out one or two special areas as its ‘lab areas’.

Functions of DIET:
DIET has an important role in the active engagement and collaboration with
institutions at the District, Sub-district, State, National and International levels. DIETs in
conjunction with other institutions at the State, District and Sub-district levels need to play
complementary and coordinated roles so that overall the needs of schools and teachers are
met without suboptimal and repetitive, overlapping functions.
The role of DIETs is as under:
 DIET would continue to be a nodal institution at the district level to transact pre-
service and/or in-service training up to Higher Secondary level.
 DIET would also be responsible for in-service training of school teachers (Classes 1 to
12) if there is no CTE for the district or the existing CTE is not able to fulfill the
requirement due to inadequate capacity concerning the total number of teachers to
be trained.
 DIET would also organize and support teacher professional development and
leadership development programs for Head Masters, senior teachers, and School
Management Committees on a continued basis.
 DIET would serve as an Education Resource Centre for the district in conjunction
with BITEs, BRCs and CRCs.
 Addressing district-specific material development, action research programs for
special groups in the District.
 Developing district academic plans and monitoring the quality of schools and
teaching.
 Designing interventions for direct support to schools and work with special groups in
the district.
 Training Management System (TMS) and Professional Development Record for
teachers is required at every district to be able to consolidate and track various
professional development activities undertaken by teachers at various levels. The
data should preferably be available in the digital format.
 DIET would design and implement direct work in schools serving special groups or
schools which are facing difficulties. This would be a field action project and would
involve continuous curriculum and pedagogic innovation, work with teachers and
school heads, work with the community as well as assessing and overseeing
children’s learning and all-round development.
 Monitoring of the quality of schools particularly in the light of the RTE Act would be
an important function of DIETs. School visits of faculty should be carried out within
some academic framework and the data maintained so that over the year, various
visits to schools contribute to the formation of a ground-level understanding of
schools to complement the statistics.
 DIET would carry out consolidation and analysis of information on the status of
schools and learning to provide feedback to BRCs and CRCs for school visits and
institutional support. These could also be the basis for deciding on various training
to be offered and specific schools to be supported.
 DIET needs to be a focus on regular documentation of special academic programmes
for special groups, special forms of interventions etc, developed for the district, e.g.
for tribal children, for the girl child, etc.
 DIET would become the seat for academic planning of the District. The overall thrust
is on teacher education and for this DIETs need to be more systematically integrated
to instrument the quality improvement.
 Through the TMS, DIETs could maintain records of teacher education programmes
received by teachers. This coordinating role would not only make the current
arrangements of teacher education programmes more efficient but would
significantly contribute to a more rational and transparent system of training.
 The review and status of teachers in the District and an understanding of
requirements and needs for their professional development could also be
maintained by the DIET.
 Forums are key spaces for the strengthening of reflective practice throughout the
education system.
 DIET would support the organization of school quality review meetings.
 Subject forum meetings of teachers and/or teacher educators (from TEIs and
MRPs as a group)
 Seminars for teacher educators with opportunities for presentation of
internal work and invited speakers.
 DIET may engage with the development of a Perspective Plan for five years which
would guide its activities. Further, it would prepare an Annual Work Plan (AWP) to
guide all its activities in each forthcoming year. The AWP would be reviewed mid-
term and at the end of each year while formulating programmes for the next year.
The perspective plan would involve developing a vision and deciding on a direction
for the next 5 years and it would be presented to the PAC and suggestions received
from it, would be incorporated and finally adopted by the PAC for the DIET.
 DIET would monitor and guide the conduct of teacher training in the BRCs and CRCs.
Provision for the lending of Master Trainers to BRCs and CRCs, if required.
 DIET would conduct specialized training such as leadership, evaluation & assessment,
ICT, Inclusive Education, Gender Sensitization, etc.
  DIET would conduct training for Headmasters of the Schools and Secondary/Hr.
Secondary Teachers.
 Facilitate in resourcing material for subject-specific training at BRC/CRC level (using
available resources from online platforms such as E- Pathshala and SWAYAM).
 DIET would mentor schools and take up innovations and action research.
 DIET would coordinate between BRCs/CRCs and NGOs in the District who are
contributing in the area of teacher training. BRCs and CRCs work under DIETs
supervision for in-service teacher training.

Evaluation:
A recent evaluation study on functioning of DIETs by Govinda and Sood of NIEPA has
come out with many revelations. The study found that different DIETs are at different state
of development as some states have just begun and the others started very late. Since the
inception of the scheme, a number of new districts have been created across the states and
DIETs in these districts by and large have not been established. Most of the DIETs (83 per
cent) have their own buildings but they are poorly maintained. In a few states, such as Delhi,
Pondicherry and Meghalaya, hostel facilities are not available and as such 39 per cent of the
DIETs do not have hostels. The study reveals that girls' hostels are not fully utilized. The
states have divergent recruitment policy and 4 to 80 per cent of the positions across the
states are vacant. In all the states, the study found shortage of the teaching positions.
With a few exceptions, ET equipments are not found in working condition. In a state
like, Uttar Pradesh they are not at all in use. Most of the states have adopted DIET
guidelines in total and as such there are no state-specific adaptions. In a large number of
DIETs, units like Planning and Management, Curriculum and Material Development,
Educational Technology etc. are found almost non-functional. The study found non-
involvement of DIET faculty in development and implementation of plans. Even in DPEP
districts, though willing, the faculty is not involved in managing and development of
information systems. Libraries have been found to be totally neglected in most of the DIETs.
The study found lack of coordination in organizing in-service training programmes with the
activities of BRCs and CRCs in many DPEP states. Most of the DIETs are implementing
standard programmes of the states and hence very little innovations are noticed. The DIETs
focuses its activities only on primary school teachers and orientation of other functionaries
is sporadic. The study notices that in-service programmes are conducted without a long-
term perspective.
The study by Govinda and Sood further found research and field experimentation
the weakest component in DIETs. Research activities are not reported from the DIETs
located in the North Eastern part of the country. This is because of the fact that in many
states, sub-committees on studies and action research have not been constituted. Low
motivation and lack of capacity and academic support are found to be the other major
reasons. There are varying patterns so far as the management and coordination of the
programme at the state level is concerned. SCERTs have emerged as the main coordinating
agency in a number of states. However, poor support from the SCERT is reported in a few
states. Under utilization of funds is also found to be a common feature in most of the DIETs.

Conclusion:
In conclusion, The DIET has made decisive impact on increasing enrolment, reducing
stagnation and improving classroom transaction, while the DIET has been operational in
backward districts with female literacy below the national average, total literacy campaign
has started up the demand for elementary education. It is clear that education is
fundamental right of every Person and is a basic need of our life, without education no
progress is possible. Elementary Education is the provision of education to make education
for all children to complete elementary education. So, there is need to draw serious
attention and action to achieve the goal of Universalization of elementary education in the
state with in short period.
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