​The Directorate of Forest Education, in its current form, functions under direct administrative control of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India to take care of all aspects of training of SFS officers and FROs. The Directorate also supplements the efforts of the State Government for the training of Frontline Forest Staff (Forest Guards, Foresters, Deputy Rangers). The Directorate of Forest Education was earlier a part of the erstwhile Forest Research Institute & Colleges, Dehradun and remained responsible for professional training/education of Forest Officers/personnel at all level in the country.

The post of Director Forest Education was created in 1953 under FRI and Colleges to assist the then President, research Institute and College and to ensure standard and quality of forestry training in the country. After reorganization of Forestry Research, Education and Training Institutions in 1987, the erstwhile Indian Forest College got dissociated from the Directorate of Forest Education and upgraded to Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy under direct control of MoEF to take care of all aspects of training of IFS Officers. At the same time Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education was also crated as an autonomous body under the MoEF to organize, direct and manage research in Forest Sector at National Level and the Directorate of Forest Education was separated as an independent organization under the direct control of MoEF for the training of SFS Officers and FROs.

At present there are three Central Academies for State Forest Service, at Dehradun (Uttarakhand), Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) and Burnihat (Assam) and one Central Academy of Forest Education (CAFE) at Kurseong (West Bengal) under the direct control of the Directorate of Forest Education. All these four Academies/College under take the activities concerning induction and in-service training of SFS Officers and FROs and Short term General Refresher Courses, Theme based Courses and Computer Application Courses of two week duration, One week workshop for in-service SFS Officers and FROs.