Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP)

The Phase I of the program commenced in 2003 with the assistance of World Bank with the goal to upscale and improve quality of technical education and enhance existing capacities of the institutions to become dynamic, demand driven, quality conscious, efficient and forward looking, responsive to rapid economic and technological developments occurring both at national and international levels.

  • The second phase of the programme lasted from 2010 to 2016 and in 2016, TEQIP Phase III was approved with an outlay of 3600 crore.
  • The major achievements of Phase I and II have been:
    • Better academic standards, through accreditation, filling up faculty positions, training faculty in better teaching methods, improved research outputs in institution in Focus States/UTs.
    • Better administration of the institutions with improved financial/academic autonomy.
    • Better systems for assessment of student learning, higher transition rates.
    • Transparent and expeditious release of funds to institutes by way of Direct Funds Transfer (DFT) System.
  • The focus areas of Phase III are 7 Low Income States (Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and Odisha), 3 Hill States (Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand), 8 North-Eastern States (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura) and Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Issues

  • The Phase III of the program was to end on 30th September 2021. On completion the contracts of teachers recruited under TEQUIP, they had to be absorbed by the state governments yet there are no assurances for the retention of these teachers.
  • As of October 2021, only Bihar and Uttarakhand retained these highly qualified teachers.

Proposal

  • As of now (2021-22), the government is making preparatory efforts, and a token amount of Rs. 10 crore has been provided for “Multidisciplinary Education Research Improvement in Technical Education (MERITE)” in budget 2021-22 as a replacement of TEQUIP. The MERITE program is still in conceptual stages.

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