Panaji: During the upcoming academic year, the directorate of education (DoE) will focus heavily on training teachers to achieve the 'learning outcomes' fixed by the Union ministry for human resource development (
HRD) for each subject for each class, up to Class VIII. Minimum learning outcomes were provided to the directorate last year for the subjects of Hindi, English, Urdu, mathematics, environmental studies, science and social science.
Goa will present its academic plan for the state before a review committee of the HRD this month, wherein it will give a detailed plan on how it will carry out the capacity building of teachers to achieve these learning outcomes.
The state has also drawn up a plan to create awareness among parents and to help children in each class set learning goals, as instructed by HRD officials.
The learning outcomes were developed for each subject in each elementary class by the HRD after it came to light, through subsequent national achievement surveys, that some students across the country could not even read or write fluently, even after the completing the first few years of schooling.
The department will draw up a learning module and calendar for elementary school teachers, with the duration and mode of training . The capacity of teachers to teach as per the learning outcomes will also be assessed. The fund allotment to Goa by the HRD for 2018-19 will be linked to the plan drawn up by the state.
Though states were provided the learning outcomes in March 2017, Goa is yet to inform its schools about the HRD circular.
Some teachers, however, feel that drawing up new learning outcomes for a class may be an exercise that may yield no results and may prove redundant in a relatively better off state like Goa.
"The old minimum levels are already in place, but no one follows them. Also, in Goa for instance, in subjects like English, the state is far ahead of the others and so these new learning outcomes set may be too low for Goa," said a teacher from South Goa.
