Role and Functions: BRC, DIET, CTE, IASE, DSERT

Role and functions of BRC (Block Resource Centres)

The creation of the Block Resource Centres on a large scale throughout the country
represents an ambitious effort to provide academic structures that support and improve the
quality of education in schools. They were initially set up under the District Primary Education
Programme (DPEP) which was implemented in a phased manner in selected districts of the
country, and later expanded through Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA). They were seen as providing
an alternative to the inspection system by shifting emphasis from inspection to resource
support, in-service training of teachers, mentoring, onsite support and training follow up.

In the context of the Right to Education (RtE) these institutions assume more
importance as the Right to Education is a commitment to the provision of quality education
for all. RtE requires the State to ensure, oversee and regulate the provisioning to quality
infrastructure and teaching learning processes, to ensure that all children achieve their
potential through education. In the context of the wide disparities in the current educational
system, this commitment requires the Block Resource Centres (BRCs) and Cluster Resource
Centres (CRCs) to actively promote and support a process of school quality improvement.
The major academic roles & functions of BRCs
a) Development of the centre as a rich academic resource with ample reference
materials for the teachers.
b) Development of strong human resource pools (by inviting resource persons) from
nearby teacher education institutions, NGOs, Colleges/ Universities and resourceful
individuals to form Resource Groups in different subject areas for primary and upper
primary level.
c) Regular school visits for addressing emerging pedagogic issues and issues related to
school development.
d) Organization of teacher training and monthly meetings to discuss academic issues and
design strategies for better school performance.
e) Setting up of performance indicators to track and enhance school performance.

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 f) Consultation with community members and Panchayati Raj Institutions to strive for
school improvement.
g) Designing a Quality Improvement Plan for the block/cluster as per the SSA goals and
strive to achieve that in a time bound manner.
h) Monitoring the progress of quality using Quality Monitoring Tools in collaboration
with nearby DIET.

In a nutshell, role of BRC/CRC is a mixed set of academic, supervisory managerial,

networking and creative activities; it goes beyond routine monitoring and supervision work
as it encompasses providing support to schools and teachers through teacher training and
teacher mentoring for their professional growth, strengthening community-school linkage,
providing resource support and carrying out action research.

An important goal of the programme that started in 2001 is to provide elementary

education of satisfactory quality with emphasis on education for life and to bridge all gender
and social category gaps. The last decade has witnessed a number of new initiatives to
enhance the access and participation of children in elementary education as well as to
improve the quality of education provided in schools.

To bring about qualitative improvement in education under SSA, various interventions

have been made such as in-service teacher training, curriculum renewal, revision of

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textbooks, continuous and comprehensive evaluation of students, close monitoring of schools
and provision of academic support to teachers on a regular basis.

BRC coordinators also collect material from the District Project Office for distribution
among the teachers, SDMCs etc. through CRCs and provide continuous support to teachers
while monitoring implementation of pedagogical and other interventions at school level.

In addition administrators in the system depend on them for multifarious

administrative activities as they are easily available work force.

Block Resource Centres (BRCs) and Cluster Resource Centres (CRCs) were established
in each block of every district under SSA to conduct in-service teacher training and to provide
academic support to teachers and schools on a regular basis as well as to help in community
mobilization activities.

At present 6472 BRCs and 69,268 CRCs are operational in the country. In each block
there are several CRCs and each CRC covers a small number of schools within easy reach. BRCs
are headed by Block Resource Centre Co-coordinators and CRCs by Cluster Resource Centre
Co-coordinators. The BRC Co-coordinator is academic cocoordinator / facilitator at block level
who is responsible for in-service training of teachers and providing guidance to the CRC Co-
coordinators. They also organize training programmes for members of Village Education
Committees (VEC) and School Development and Monitoring Committees (SDMCs).

The following table shows the number of BRCs and CRCs and the number of schools in
different states and Union Territories. The number of CRCs per BRC and number of school per
CRC vary considerably from state to state.

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 The BRCs and CRCs have been operational for several years in most states. Since over
the years, the scope of their work has expanded, MHRD commissioned a study to assess how
these centres have been functioning and to suggest the changes needed to make them more
efficient. The main purpose was to make suggestions for more effective functioning of BRCs
and CRCs on the basis of the study.

1. To find out the role and functions of BRCs and CRCs as defined at the state level for
both primary and upper primary level

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2. To find out to what extent the activities undertaken by BRCs, CRCs and resource
persons are in accordance with their prescribed duties, and to asses their workload
and time devoted to various activities/ tasks.
3. To study the selection procedure of BRC and CRC Coordinators and Resource Persons.
4. To assess the content and quantum of training/orientation provided to BRC and CRC
Coordinators and the role of District and Block Resource Groups in providing training.
5. To assess the support given to BRCs and CRCs by DIETs.
6. To study the coordination of BRC with BEO and views of DEO, BEO on functioning of
BRCs and CRCs.
7. To study the mechanism of supervision of the work of BRCs and CRCs.
8. To study how BRCs and CRCs or their equivalents function in urban areas.
9. To find out the views of teachers, head teachers and SDMCs/ SMCs etc. on the
contribution made by BRCs and CRCs in improving the functioning of schools and
SDMCs.
10. To assess the on-site support given to schools and teachers by CRC Coordinators and
Resource Group members / Block Resource Persons.
11. To study the availability and use of various facilities and equipment that are provided
to BRCs and CRCs for their functioning.
12. To find out the constraints and problems faced by BRC and CRC Coordinators in their
work and to assess their job satisfaction.
13. To make suggestions for more effectives functioning of BRCs and CRCs.

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Role and functions of DIET (District Institute for Education and
Training)

DIET or 'District Institute for Education and Training' are district level educational
institutes which have been established in each district of India by the Indian government. This
helps in coordinating and implementing government policies at district level.

Role of DIET:
The following are the roles of DIET are as follows:
1) Provide leadership in innovating pre-service primary teacher training.
2) Contribute to development of quality learning materials for primary education.
3) Carry out innovations for improving the functioning of primary schools.
4) Conduct in-service training programmes to primary school teachers.
5) Carry out field base empirical studies to improve the primary schools.
6) Train functionaries in NFE and adult education.
Provide support to district authorities in planning in Universalisation of Elementary
Education (UEE). The guideline proposes to give adequate functional autonomy - academic.
Administrative and financial.
FUNCTIONS OF DIET
Functions of DIETs can be classified into four categories.
1. Developing, Organizing, managing and supervision of Training
2. Educational Resources support
3. DIET as a research centre
4. Miscellaneous

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The main reasons for this kind of categories of functions of DIET are as follows:
1. As Teacher Education is a continuous process it cannot be classified as pre-service and
in-service.
2. If DIETs are fully equipped with both human and material resources the quality of
education at district level can be raised.
3. If appropriate facilities are available in the DIETs to train adult eduction workers and
elementary school teachers UEE can be achieved.
4. DIET will integrate both formal and informal agency of elementary education so as to
ascertain and ensure equal level or standard,
5. DIET will also coordinate its functions with the functions of other district level
departments who have active role for the cause of elementary education in terms of
monitoring.
6. DIETs also have to perform evaluation, liaison with the higher authorities, formulate
plans and related primary education to secondary education.

The major functions of DIETs arc pre-service education at primary level. In-service
education to primary) teachers and non-formal and adult education functionaries. resource
support to primary schools and adult education centres and action research in the area of
Primary Education and Adult Education.

Role and functions of CTE (College of Teachers Education)

College of Teachers Education not only expand the quantity and quality of secondary
school teachers but also reinvent themselves to proactively integrate with the larger state
teacher education system.
Discussions regarding improvement in teacher quality and teacher education are now
widening to include not just elementary but secondary education as well. The recently
initiated RMSA stresses the need to improve the access and quality of secondary education
across the country. The efforts towards improving the
elementary (primary and upper primary) teachers capacity building processes have
highlighted the fact that similar efforts have not been possible for secondary and
senior secondary teacher education and are urgently required. The RMSA proposes

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an organized attempt towards building capacity of teachers in secondary and senior
secondary schools. In this context the role of Colleges of Teacher Education (CTEs)
becomes crucial especially over the next 5 years. It is envisioned that CTEs play
the major role in the field of secondary teacher education and development,
also guiding the various secondary teacher education institutions in the
districts under them. They have to see themselves as centres for developing
excellence in secondary teacher education and in secondary classrooms at school.
Given the extent of their role and its nature, it is critical that CTEs involve a wide set
of capable and committed institutions as well as individuals in this process.

CTE Roles and Functions

Discussions regarding improvement in teacher quality and teacher education are now
widening to include not just elementary but secondary education as well. The recently
initiated RMSA stresses the need to improve the access and quality of secondary education
across the country. The efforts towards improving the elementary teachers capacity building
processes have highlighted the fact that similar efforts have not taken place for secondary
and senior secondary teacher education and are urgently required. The DSERT, Education
Department proposes an organized attempt towards building capacity of teachers in

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secondary schools. In this, context the role of Colleges of Teacher Education (CTEs) becomes
crucial, especially over the next 5 years.
It is envisioned that CTEs play the major role in the field of secondary teacher
education and development, also guiding the various secondary teacher education
institutions in the districts under them.
They have to see themselves as Centres for developing excellence in secondary
teacher education and in secondary classrooms at school.
The CTEs, in order to improve the quality of secondary education, shall conduct
training need analysis and base line surveys for organizing training programs.
They shall prepare context specific teacher handbooks and training modules for
quality training.
They shall also undertake the impact studies to study the effect of training programs
on classroom processes and learning outcomes. They shall prepare implementation
guidelines for conducting plan activities including training and projects for ensuring
optimum utilization of funds with financial accountability.
They should design a training program that is open-ended, leaving more scope for the
trainee for self-learning and to equip himself/herself to meet the challenging needs
and demands of the profession.
Another point to be examined is whether it is possible and desirable to have an
omnibus type of teacher training which would equip the teacher at different levels.
A program of teacher preparation derives its theoretical sustenance from a basic
philosophy of education, the historical, sociological forces shaping education and
psychological view-points on how human beings learn. The philosophical and
sociological considerations have already been referred to before. What remains to be
done is a consideration of the different theoretical stances of psychology regarding
the understanding of human behavior and its modification especially as they influence
teacher education practices.

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Role and functions of IASE (Institutes of Advanced Studies in
Education)

The creation of Institutes of Advanced Studies in Education (IASEs) came about as a

result of the National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986 which states that teacher Education is
a continuous process and its pre-service and in-service components are in-separable. As a
first step, the system of Teacher Education needs to be overhauled. This led to a centrally
sponsored scheme and as part of the proposal, it was suggested that about 250 existing
Secondary Teacher Education Institutes (STEIs) of an adequate standard and good reputation
be financially assisted, on a project basis, to competently discharge their envisaged role. It
was also recommended that 50 of these would be designated as Institutes of Advanced
Studies (IASEs) as they had an additional mandate of developing into centres of excellence
and research, while the other upgraded STEIs would be called Colleges of Teacher education
(CTEs). The focus of these new structures was to be on secondary education as far as teacher
preparation was concerned. Their work in the area of elementary education was limited and
mostly concerned with preparation of teacher educators.

There are 31 IASEs at present in the country but these have not been set up uniformly and
none of the union territories and a few of the states (Goa, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh,
Jammu Kashmir to name a few) do not have IASEs (NCERT Report Aug. 2009).

The vision of IASE should be to improve the quality of teacher education at the secondary,
elementary and primary level. They have to see themselves as the centres for developing
excellence in secondary teacher education and involving a wide set of capable and committed
institutions as well as individuals in this process.

IASE Roles and Functions

Or gan iz e p re - se rvice T e ache r Ed u cat io n Co u rse s;

Or gan iz e su b je ct -o rie n t ed & t he me - sp e cif ic in - se rvice p ro gramme s;
P r o vid e e xt e n sion & re sou rce su pp o rt to sch o o ls, sch oo l co mp le xe s
a n d in d ivid u al t eache rs;

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 Or gan iz e p re - se rvice T e ache r Ed u cat io n Co u rse s;
Or gan iz e su b je ct -o rie n t ed & t he me - sp e cif ic in - se rvice p ro gramme s;
P r o vid e e xt e n sion & re sou rce su pp o rt to sch o o ls, sch oo l co mp le xe s
a n d in d ivid u al t eache rs;
Co n d u ct e xpe rime n tat io n and in n o vat ion in sch o o l e du cat ion ;
P r o vid e t rain in g an d re so u rce su p po rt fo r th e n e w are as of
e d u catio n al co n ce rn;
P r o vid e su pp o rt t o p ro fe ssio n al b od ie s;
E n co u rage commun it y p art icip at ion in t e ach e r pre p arat io n
p r o gramme s;
Co n d u ct p ro grammes in e le men t ary t e ach e r - ed u cat io n;
Co n d u ct re gu lar M .E d ., M .Ph il. an d P h .D . p ro gramme s;
Co n d u ct in - se rvice co u rse s f o r t e ach e r -ed u cat ors, prin cip als, e t c;
Co n d u ct ad van ce d le ve l fu nd amen t al & ap p lied re se arch ;
Co n d u ct t rain in g p ro gramme s f o r p re parat ion o f no n -p rin t so ft ware
a n d u se o f ICT ;
P r o vid e acad e mic gu id an ce to D IET s & re so u rce su pp o rt to CT E s;
M o n it o r & p ro vid e acad e mic sup p o rt t o Sch o o ls f o r E xce llence ;

T h e IASE s alo n g with t h e CT E s we re e xpe ct e d to b e co me th e acad e mic

le a d in st itu t io n s and ce n tral su pp o rt o rgan iz at io n s in th e fie ld o f se co nd ar y
t e a ch e r ed u cat io n . At p re sen t , n ot all st at e s h ave IASE s an d so me o f the
e st a b lish e d o ne s are n o lo n ger fu n ct io n al. T he cu rre n t sch e me p ro vide s
ce n t r a l a ssist an ce up t o a maximu m o f Rs 2 .2 5 cro re p e r IASE . T he crit e ria
f o r set t in g u p o f IASE s are d ep e nd en t o n th e nu mbe r of d ist rict s in th e
st a t e . But du e t o th e add it io n al d e man d s and t h e kno wle d ge th at th is
n u m be r is f ar fro m su f f icien t , it is p ropo se d to up grade all D e p art men t s of
E d u ca t io n in Cen t ral an d St at e Un ive rsitie s int o IASE s

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Role and functions of DSERT (Department of State Educational
Research and Training)

The Department of State Educational Research and Training, popularly known as DSERT is the
academic wing of the Department of Public Instruction. It aims at providing academic
leadership in school education as well as improving the quality of education provided in
primary and secondary schools in the state.

The DSERT was formed as a small academic unit of the Department of Public Instruction. It
was then known as the State Institute of Education (SIE), and it originally started functioning
from the northern district town of Dharwar in 1964. This unit was later shifted to Bangalore
and the other academic units of the department of public instruction State Institute of
Science (SIS), State Educational Evaluation Unit (SEEU) and Educational Vocational Guidance
Bureau (EVG), were merged in 1975 to form a single monolithic Department of State
Educational Research and Training.

The Directorate of Text Books was attached to DSERT in 1983. Later the Teacher Education
administrative Unit was detached from the office of the Commissioner of Public Instruction
and attached to DSERT.

The National Policy of Education 1986 gave special importance to teacher education with
special emphasis on giving quality training to primary teachers. In 1993 eight District Institutes
of Education and Training (known as DIETs) were set up in the state. Subsequently DIETs were
set up in all the 20 revenue districts of the state. In 2006 seven more DIETs started functioning
in the state.

Similarly to improve the quality of secondary teacher education, 6 Government Colleges of

Education in the state were upgraded to the status of Colleges of teacher Education (CTE) to
provide both pre service and in service education in the secondary education sector. In 2006,
the CTE at Gulbarga was upgraded as Institute for Advanced Studies in Education (IASE).

In the private teacher education sector, R V teachers College, Bangalore was upgraded to the
status of Institute for Advanced Studies in Education (IASE) with a mandate to provide

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adequate and qualitative resource support to teacher educators and train teacher educators
to take up education research. Four private teachers colleges (MES teachers College and
Vijaya Teachers College, Bangalore, Kotturswamy Teachers College, Bellary and MLMN
Teachers College, Chikkamagalore.) were also upgraded as Colleges of teacher Education.

The DSERT which was functioning from the old building of Government Girls Junior College, B
P Wadia Road, Basavanagudi, Bangalore 560004, for the past several decades shifted to its
own spacious new building on 100 feet Ring Road, Banashankari III Stage, Bangalore 560085,
in the first week of February, 2003.

The new building with a built in area of about 50,000 square feet set in a one acre plot, has
been constructed at a cost of Rs. 4.3 crores. This new building is quite spacious with a 30 twin
bed room Guest House and a canteen attached to it. This facility enables the participants of
DSERT programs to stay in the Guest House itself.

DSERT formerly was conducting training programs through the video conferencing facility at
Abdul Nazir Sab State Institute for Rural Development (ANSSIRD), Mysore and the C band
receiving stations set up in all the DIETs in the state.

DSERT has also set up an audio and video studio in its premises in order to develop TV based
video lessons for the EDUSAT project. The educational broadcasts are being done twice a day
from DSERT itself, where ISRO has established a KU band hub, up link and broadcast facilities.
Through this facility, direct to class room broadcasts of video lessons are done to 885 primary
schools of Chamarajanagar district and 885 primary schools of Gulbarga district.

This video conferencing facility at DSERT, has been linked to all the DIETs and Block Resource
Centres (BRCs) in 202 educational blocks which have Ku band receiving facilities. Training
programs through the video conferencing mode, which were formerly being conducted from
Mysore are now conducted from DSERT itself.

The studio for the engineering college broadcasts under the Edusat project has also been
installed by Visveswaraya Technological University (VTU) at DSERT.

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In order to streamline textbook preparation, printing, production and distribution, the
Directorate of Text Books which was a part of DSERT and the printing facilities in the
Government Text Book Press are sought to be brought under one command under the
Karnataka Text Book Society from June, 2006.

The Karnataka Text Book Society will henceforth undertake curriculum development,
curriculum revision and will preparation, printing, publishing and distribution of text books,
teacher hand books and other resource materials to schools, students and teachers.

Roles of DSERT

The roles of the department are:-

a) To provide academic leadership in school education in the state,

b) To achieve qualitative improvement in school education through teacher training,
c) To promote Action Research in order to facilitate teacher development.
d) To under take academic reforms in the light of policy changes by the state,
e) To co ordinate at the state level, schemes of various state, central and international
agencies NCERT, NIEPA, UNICEF, SSA, RIE, IISC, etc.,
f) To under take various projects in the field of education in collaboration with various
agencies working in the field of education including NGOs.
g) To administer teacher education in the state,
h) To act as a nodal agency in providing in - service training of both primary and
secondary teachers,
i) To prepare teachers hand books, resource books and other materials for use of
students and teachers.

Important Functions of DSERT

Important functions of DSERT include

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a ) Maintaining and improving quality of education in primary and secondary schools in
the state,
b ) Management of teacher education in the state (both pre service and in service
education) both at the elementary education and secondary education levels,
c) Management of Government Colleges of teacher education, District Institutes of
Education and Training and other Government teacher training institutions.
d ) Preparation and revision of curriculum for various courses coming under school
education,
e ) Preparation, production and distribution of teachers hand Books, resource materials,
training manuals for
i. Standards I to X,
ii. Diploma in Education Course,
iii. Special Courses like Music, Dance, Drama, Drawing & Painting, Sanskrit,
Commerce, SUPW, etc.,
f ) Promoting Science Education in the state.
g) Procurement and supply of Teaching Learning Materials (TLMs) and resource books to
schools,
h ) Designing and implementing in service teacher training courses in content, pedagogy,
innovative methods like theatre in education, use of low cost and no cost teaching
learning materials in schools, etc.,
i) Procurement and supply of colour TVs, Audio and Video cassettes, Computers, CD
ROMs, laboratory and library materials, maps, charts and models to schools,
j ) Conduct of training programs through teleconferencing and video conferencing,
k) Reaching the students and teachers through direct TV broad casts,

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