About Us

as per the decision taken at a meeting of the Education Secretaries and Directors of Public Instruction of the States of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Mysore (now Karnataka) and Madras (now Tamil Nadu) in the chambers of Education Secretary, Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru on 12th November, 1962 at 3.00 p.m.

The Institute functions under the direction and control of the Board of Governors which comprises the Education Secretaries of the four member states and a nominee of the Ministry of Education, Government of India. The office of the Chairman of the Board is held by rotation for a period of one official year by one of the Education Secretaries of the four states. Presently Mr. Rajkumar Khatri IAS, Principal Secretary to the Government, Department of Primary and Secondary Education, Karnataka is the Chairman of the Board.

In a sense the Regional Institute of English, South India, Bengaluru embodies the spirit of collectivism and collaboration to create an institution of excellence. It was a dream, dreamt by the visionaries of the four southern states that have shared a common culture and a tradition of pursuit of excellence in learning. When the Institute thus came into existence, it epitomized the futuristic vision of the education directorates and ministries of the four states that foresaw the need for raising the benchmark of quality in English language teaching that would, on the one hand strengthen the competence of every learner across the curriculum and on the other catalyse a process of quality improvement in all the aspects of school education. To realize this lofty and worthy dream, the four southern states came together and resolved to nurture, support and guide the growth of the Institute as a premier body of teacher training, research and empowerment.

Over the years RIESI has grown into an institution that commands respect and recognition in the ELT circles not only within the country but also abroad. It has carved a niche for itself in the field of teacher development with a happy integration of face-to-face and distance modes of delivery of knowledge and skills. In recent years the Institute has successfully harnessed satellite resources for extending the reach of its programmes to hitherto unreached segments of teachers. Apart from these initiatives, the Institute has also been proactive in the areas of materials production, designing of need-based courses for different professional groups, implementation of diploma and certificate courses through distance mode to help practising teachers and teacher – aspirants continue their professional development and enrichment and providing consultancy services to different client groups.

Perceiving the need for continuous empowerment of teaching fraternity, other states are evincing interest in the programmes and courses conducted by RIESI. They look upon the Institute as an effective mentor organization to support them in enhancing the quality of English education. The Institute also is willing to provide professional support and guidance in different areas in English language teaching and learning such as curriculum renewal and design, materials production, evaluation, training, integration of technology and development of courses and materials for Specific Purposes. Recently Puducherry has also become a member state. Other states such as Goa and Chattisgarh etc have also shown interest.