INTRODUCTION

District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) are established in India with a specific aim to develop primary education in all sectors of the population. Many of the DIETs in India could not meet the target set to them because of various issues in implementing them. But at the same time, some of the DIETs in India delineated perfect examples of teacher professional improvement and school development. DIETs in Kerala could attain the targets fixed and the teaching community has improved substantially to provide quality education to the students. What are the favorable factors supported the DIETs in Kerala in this remarkable achievement? This is a study to find out those favorable factors due to which DIETs could influence the teacher community for their betterment.

The National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986 and Programme of Action (POA) 1986 envisaged the setting up of District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) to achieve Universal Elementary Education (UEE). The revised guidelines redefined the mission of DIETs as to provide academic and resource support at the grass root level for the success of various strategies and programs being undertaken in the areas of elementary (and adult) education and for improving the quality of education at the school level. The functioning of DIETs is also a move towards decentralization – as DIET becomes the nodal unit at the district level to carry out local/regional educational needs, and research based planning for elementary education. Today, DIETs have become key centres to provide quality education at the primary level by achieving targets like UEE, EGS & AIE, NPGEL, TLC Programmes of National Literacy Mission and SSA. Various measures were taken by SCERTs and Directorates of Education to strengthen the functioning of DIETs in each state.

[1] Saj Bhavan, Periyambalam, Pulikkal P O, Malappuram Dist, Kerala.