At present there are three Central Academies for State Forest Service (CASFOS) in the country at Burnihat near Guwahati (Assam), Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) and Dehradun (Uttarakhand) and one Rangers College namely Eastern Forest Rangers College at Kurseong (West Bengal) being run by the Government of India; besides four Rangers Colleges run by the State Governments. However, the technical control over all the State run Rangers Colleges vests with the Directorate of Forest Education, Government of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests. The Sponsoring authorities have to follow the Rules in vogue, for State Forest Services Officers and the Range Forest Officers Course, framed by the Government of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests.
The entire training process for the Diploma Course in Forestry for State Forest Service Officers and the Certificate Course for Range Forest Officers is governed by the "Entrance and Training Rules (Revised) 2004 for State Forest Service Officers, Range Forest Officers, and Guidelines for Training of Foresters and Forest Guards" in vogue, framed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.
Apart from this, a number of short term Refreshers and Theme-based Courses have been introduced for in-service Assistant Conservator of Forests to update their knowledge, to develop their physical and mental skills, supervisory, administrative and technical capabilities for meeting new challenges. The following Two Weeks General Refresher and Theme-based Courses are conducted in the constituent colleges of the Directorate for in-service Assistant Conservators of Forests; except Eastern Forest Rangers College, Kurseong, which imparts two weeks General Refresher course for in-service Range Forest Officers:
- General Refresher Courses on Forestry.
- Joint Forest Management and Sustainable Rural Development.
- Biodiversity Conservation and Watershed management.
- Project formulation and Environment Impact Assessment.
- Policy, Legal Issues and International Conventions.
- Computer Application in Forestry (Basic).
- Computer Application in Forestry (Advanced).
The Directorate has also diversified into imparting training for non- forestry organizations so as to develop a long-term partnership in conservation of natural resources through awareness generation amongst non-forestry organizations.
