For the purpose of achieving quality education and to remove the backlog of untrained teachers and with the implementation of National Policy of Education (N.P.E.) in 1986, the District Institute of Education and Training were established all over the country. In Meghalaya also, DIETs were set up in all Districts on the recommendation of the National Council of Teacher Education (N.C.T.E.) mainly to provide services in the areas like training, resource support and research in Education.
DIET, Sohra is one such Institute set up in Meghalaya. It is located at Saitsohpen, which is about 53 Kms from the State capital Shillong. This Institute was started in September 2000 and it became operationalised in 2001.
In the beginning, the Institute catered to the educational needs of the teachers of East Khasi Hills, West Khasi Hills and Ri-Bhoi Districts. However, with the creation of Ri-Bhoi District and the establishment of two more DIETs at Nongpoh and Nongstoin in 2005, DIET, Sohra began to cater to the educational needs of teachers serving in East Khasi hills District only. The course is offered only to pre-service trainees (wannabe teachers) who satisfies certain prescribed conditions laid down by the Directorate of Educational Research and Training (D.E.R.T.) mandating them to secure a minimum of 45% and above in their H.S.S.L.C. examination and must be below 27yrs of age during the time of application into the said course. Presently, the maximum intake is 60 students only per academic session.
Examinations at the end of the sessions were formerly conducted by the Meghalaya Board of School Education till 2004. But, from 2005-2006 academic sessions, the Directorate of Educational Research and Training (D.E.R.T.) have taken over the same from the Meghalaya Board of School Education (M.B.O.S.E). Till 2005, the duration for the training Programme is one year, but since then, the programme course has been extended to two years.
