Primary teachers in government schools are interested in honing their language and grammar skills, and acquiring in-depth knowledge of the Constitution of India. These were some of the topics that a majority of teachers under the Guruchetana programme had opted for since its launch in 2017 by the Department of Primary and Secondary Education.
The programme gives autonomy to teachers to choose the subjects they want to be trained in, and offers a variety of modules that are designed to throw light on key concepts, the method and practice of teaching the subject, and assessment.
An official said that a large number number of teachers want to delve into the Constitution and see how they could integrate it into their day-to-day teaching activities.
While languages are a popular choice, Hindi appears to be the exception. Of the total 42 modules available, the least popular ones are Hindi language and Hindi grammar.
Officials of the Department of State Educational Research and Training (DSERT) pointed out that this is because government schools recruit very few teachers to teach Hindi.
“Most teachers want to improve their language skills to be effective communicators and also in the hope that it will help improve their classroom interactions,” said an official.
These modules are offered to 1.61 lakh teachers in Kannada, Urdu and Marathi.
Sridevi S., a government school teacher, is thrilled with the programme as teachers can pick modules they wanted to be trained in. “We feel that the design is personalised for those of us who want to upgrade our skills and knowledge in a particular subject. We are glad that training programmes are designed to address our requirements,” she said.
New modules
The department has decided to introduce modules on road safety, school safety, life skills, yoga and physical education from the 2020-21 academic year. Life skills include topics pertaining to emotional well-being, substance misuse and decision-making.
H.N. Gopalkrishna, Director, DSERT, said, “The programme has been accepted so well by teachers that other States are sending officials to Karnataka to study this programme.”