3,032 Mentors Onboarded Nationwide to Upskill School Teachers

Minister of State (MoS) for Education, Jayant Chaudhary, said in a written reply that mentors under the NMM are selected by NCTE through a structured process that examines professional excellence, mentoring aptitude, and alignment with the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020.

"Any outstanding professional (retired or working) with at least eight years of experience in their area of expertise, including professors, principals and other professionals, may be considered for engagement as a mentor," MoS Chaudhary added.

He said that mentors are required to submit their applications through the designated application form available on the NCTE website and are provided orientation and capacity-building support.

The mentoring methodology under the NMM uses technology-enabled, need-based support, combining individual and group mentoring through a dedicated digital platform, namely the Unified Mentoring Interface (UMI).

The mentoring covers 30 domains and 41 sub-domains aligned with NEP, 2020, including pedagogical content knowledge, foundational literacy, inclusive education and digital education, and is undertaken on a continuous basis to support teachers' professional development, the MoS added.

For enhancement of teaching-learning practices, the NMM aims to create a large pool of outstanding professionals (mentors), who are willing to provide short- and long-term professional support and cross-learning among school teachers (mentees), the NMM website said, adding that the mentors contribute to teachers' continuous professional development/capacity building.

In reply to another query on reservation in promotion to engineers and technical cadre employees in IITs, the Education Ministry said that the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are autonomous bodies governed by the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961, as amended from time to time, and the statutes framed thereunder.

Reservation in IITs for the non-teaching cadre is implemented in line with the Union government's reservation policy to promote social justice and equitable representation, Minister of State (MoS) for Education, Sukanta Majumdar, said.

Posts are reserved as per the norms prescribed by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

"These measures aim to ensure that opportunities in these institutions are accessible to candidates from underrepresented communities, while recruitment continues to be conducted through transparent and merit-based procedures," MoS Majumdar added.

- IANS