New Delhi: In a unique initiative to enhance quality of teaching in higher education, the Government is successfully running an online ‘Annual Refresher Programme In Teaching (ARPIT)’ for the last two years for professional development of higher education faculty. Using the MOOCs platform SWAYAM, the programme was launched in 2018 to fulfil government’s commitment towards quality education. It is a major and unique initiative of online professional development of 15 lakh higher education faculty.
Through ARPIT, new & emerging trends, pedagogical improvements and methodologies for transacting revised curriculum have been imparted to more than 1.8 Lakh teachers in the last two years. In 2018-19, 37199 teachers were trained under this program whereas in 2019-20 the number has increased tremendously to 146919 which shows a nearly fourfold increase as well as popularity of the programme.
Union Minister for HRD Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has said that ARPIT has been launched to enhance the quality of teaching and is a step towards the commitment of the government to “Har Ek Kaam Desh Ke Naam”. Shri Pokhriyal has said that the Government is committed to enhance the quality of teachers because teachers are the builders of nation and the destiny of a nation is decided by the quality of its teachers. The Minister said that ARPIT is doing a great job in empowering the teaching faculty. Teachers are the base of education system and ARPIT is a great platform for teachers to learn about latest developments in their field and develop their teaching qualities. It encompasses both enhancing the quality of teaching as well as learning experience.
