UPSC Prelims 2018 · Question 21 of 99
UPSC Prelims 2018 question on Right to Education Teacher Eligibility
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2018
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectPolity
- TopicGovernance
- DifficultyHard
- TypeStatement
Consider the following statements:
1. As per the Right to Education (RTE) Act, to be eligible for appointment as a teacher in a State, a person would be required to possess the minimum qualification laid down by the concerned State Council of Teacher Education.
2. As per the RTE Act, for teaching primary classes, a candidate is required to pass a Teacher Eligibility Test conducted in accordance with the National Council for Teacher Education guidelines.
3. In India, more than 90% of teacher education institutions are directly under the State Governments.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Show answer
Answer: B. 2 only
Verdict
Only statement 2 is correct, so the answer is (b) 2 only.
Statement by statement
Statement 1 is INCORRECT. Under section 23(1) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, it is the National Council for Teacher Education, by its notification of 23 August 2010, that laid down the minimum qualifications for appointment as a teacher for classes I to VIII. The power sits with a national body, not a State Council.
Statement 2 is CORRECT. Among the essential qualifications for appointment as a teacher in primary schools is passing the Teacher Eligibility Test.
Statement 3 is INCORRECT. The number of teacher education institutions rose from about 1,200 in the mid 1960s to about 1,500 by 1993, then exploded to about 16,000 by 2011, of which over 90 percent are private, not under State Governments.
Source
Ministry of Human Resource Development document on RTE and the Teacher Eligibility Test.
How to crack it
Statement 3 inverts a well known fact, since the familiar story about teacher education institutions is runaway private expansion. Whenever a statement claims that over 90 percent of institutions in a rapidly grown education sector are government run, check it against what you know about who actually built that capacity.