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No nation can progress without the excellence of its education system, which in turn
is the output of the quality of its teachers. The ancient Rigveda proposes that a teacher
should be selected first and then trained effectively. The value of a nation depends on
the quality of its citizens, which in turn depends on the excellence of their education
system, which eventually is an output of the caliber of the teacher. Clinton, in his “A
Call to Action for American Education in the 21st Century” in 1997, reiterated that every community should have a talented and dedicated teacher in every classroom. Thus the
teacher is the signpost that determines the accomplishments and ambitions of a nation.
The education system cannot become a prospective mechanism of national growth
without talented and dedicated teachers in service. The teacher can be made proficient
with well-planned pre-service and in-service training programs (GOI, 1985). Moreover,
stage-specific teacher preparation is essential since the needs and requirements of
students vary at each level. The teacher is the most important element in any educational
program. It is the teacher who is mainly responsible for the implementation of the
educational process at any stage. Hence, it is essential to empower teachers to make
the future of a nation secure. India should be able to address the need to provide a
large number of well-qualified and professionally-trained teachers in the coming years.
The demands and expectations with regard to the position of a teacher can be addressed
by both induction as well as in-service training (Girdhar, 2012). Govinda and Varghese
(1993) opined that teacher training, coupled with high morale, makes up a potential
factor determining the learning levels of the children. Hence, several nations, including
India, expend a considerable share of their education budgets on the professional
development of teachers (Create, 2011). Teachers have to play the role of decisive
mediators while carrying out curriculum since education is not a mechanical activity
of information transmission and the nature of teaching and learning environment has
been undergoing a rapid transformation due to globalization. Thus, the system of teacher training has been experiencing substantial stress consequent to the quantitative
expansion of school education in India. Globalization has made it imperative for
teachers, like all other professions, to acquire latest information and up-to-date
pedagogical practices. The vital aspect of instructive modernization is the continuous
improvement of the teacher’s personal character, learning, professional training and the
place he occupies in the school and the contingent community (GOI, 1953). The Kothari
Commission, 1964-66, observed that a sound program of professional education for
teachers was indispensable for the qualitative progress of education (GOI, 1966). Based
on the recommendations of the National Policies on Education 1986 and 1992, a lot
of money has been spent on infrastructural improvement and organization of various
in-service programs in the school education sector. But the impact of all these programs
on teacher quality improvement was found very marginal.
In this context, the present study attempts to measure the school heads’ perceptions
regarding the in-service training for teachers at the secondary level of schooling.
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