Nurturing a spirit of enquiry and creativity

Governor of Goa, Mridula Sinha inaugurated a five-day teachers training workshop hosted under the Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan (RAA) programme of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India and organised by UNISED in collaboration with NIT Goa and Samgra Siksha. On the occasion, Sinha also e-inaugurated Information Communication Technology (ICT) labs established in government schools across Goa.

A total of 120 teachers, NIT students and professors participated in the event. The teachers were trained on effective methods of teaching mathematics and social sciences. The aim was to enable students to become more inclined and motivated towards these subjects.

In a bid to highlight the importance of innovation and technology in teaching, the MHRD set up the RAA, a convergent framework that aims at nurturing a spirit of enquiry and creativity, love for science and mathematics and effective use of technology amongst students. It also aims to support those who show an inclination and talent for these subjects and encourage to reach academic excellence. UNISED in collaboration with Samgra Siksha and higher educational institutes work with state education departments with an aim to build the capacity of teachers and bridge the gap between higher educational institutes and government schools.

Present at the programme were Secretary of Education, Government of Goa, Nila Mohanan; state project director, Samagra Shiksha, Neetal Amonkar; Director of Education, Government of Goa, Nagaraj Honnekeri; director, NIT Goa, Gopal Mugeraya; nodal officer, RAA, Saidi Reddy Parney; national programme advisor, RAA, Avaneesh Tripathi; national convener, NASB, Sandeep Shahi; and programme director, UNISED, Javed Ali Khan among others.

A one-day ICT (Information Communication and Technology) training programme was also conducted for teachers of government schools of Goa. The workshop was conducted in collaboration with Samagra Shiksha Goa at the Government Primary Middle School, Mapusa where an ICT lab was set up.

Teachers of nine ICT schools of Goa attended the training. Expert from UNISED, namely Faisal Nazir explained about various components of an ICT lab, namely the various hardware and software installed in ICT labs, networking and sharing of devices, usage of smart board, intellispace and calibration of interactive devices.