New Delhi, Aug. 18 -- 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....