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Union education minister Pralhad Joshi on Monday said the quality of education depends on the competence and empathy of teachers, underlining their central role in implementing the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and building a "Viksit Bharat" by 2047. Addressing the National Council for Teacher Education's (NCTE) 32nd Foundation Day celebrations through a video message, Joshi said, "Educational quality rests on the competence and empathy of our teachers" and highlighted the role of the four-year undergraduate Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP) course in teacher preparation. ITEP is set to become the only recognised qualification for school teacher recruitment from 2030. NCTE has expanded ITEP from a pilot in 42 institutions with 3,950 seats in 2023-24 to over 409 institutions offering over 38,000 seats this academic year. On the use of artificial intelligence in teacher education, Joshi said it should be leveraged responsibly to improve teaching while retaining the human element. "AI should enrich pedagogy without replacing essential human values," he said. NCTE's foundation day celebrations at Gautam Buddha University, Greater Noida, were held alongside a national conference on ITEP, themed "Reflection, Reform and Future Readiness", with more than 400 ITEP institutions participating in hybrid mode. Delivering the welcome address, Professor Pankaj Arora, Chairperson, NCTE, provided an overview of NCTE's transformative journey and outlined the Council's ongoing commitment to building a robust teaching ecosystem aligned with national priorities. Several new initiatives were launched at the event. NCTE launched the MITRA and PUSHTI mobile applications under the National Mission for Mentoring (NMM) and National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST), respectively, to support teacher mentoring and continuous professional development. NCTE also released implementation handbooks for the two initiatives, publications on 'AI in Teacher Education' and 'Pedagogy in Higher Education,' and new volumes of its journals 'Anweshika' and the 'Indian Journal of Teacher Education.' The Vidya Samiksha Kendra (VSK) at NCTE headquarters was also made operational.

Air India and Air India Express are testing nearly 5,000 cockpit crew members after a Phuket-Delhi flight captain tested positive for marijuana. NEW DELHI: Two more Air India pilots have been grounded after they tested positive in the initial dope test conducted by the airline for over 300 pilots since August 13. Results of the second confirmatory test is awaited. Air India and Air India Express are mandatorily testing its nearly 5,000-strong cockpit crew after the Flight Captain of the Phuket-Delhi flight (AI 2379) tested positive for marijuana last week. The screening is conducted to check for substances or medications not permissible under regulations. "So far, between 300 and 400 pilots have been screened. Two pilots among them tested non-negative," said a source. Non-negative indicates that there are traces of substances but the result can be called positive only after a confirmatory test. Captain C S Randhawa , president of the Federation of Indian Pilots said, "If the first test turns out to be positive, the pilots have to be taken off duty. As of now, three out of the 300-odd pilots tested by Air India, which amounts to one per cent, have tested positive. This is very high and strict action is required, and saliva testing is recommended."