The Central Institute of Educational Technology has the aim to provide and promote educational technology mainly at the school level and it has been set up in 1984 as an integral part of National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT).
The organization has the status of an autonomous body working under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. The institute universalizes the primary education by designing, developing, and publishing alternative learning systems besides addressing various educational problems at micro and macro levels.
The functions of the Institute are as follows.
- It designs the media software, films, graphics and other programmes to intensify the curricular and the co-curricular activities at the school level.
- It generates competencies in the development and use of educational software materials through training in areas such as script development, media production, media communication, media research, technical operations, setting up studios, repair and maintenance of equipments etc.
- It also trains the faculties of Institutes of Advanced Study in Education or Colleges of Teacher Education and District Institutes of Education and Training in the use of Educational Technology
- It carries out research appraisal and monitoring of the systems, programmes and materials to increase their effectiveness.
- It documents and disseminates the information, materials and media programmes for better use in the field of Educational Technology.
- It directs and coordinates the academic and technical programmes and activities of the SIET set up by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Government of India in six states of India.
