Tribute to teachers in Haryana: 3-week ‘Shiksha Parv’ on best teaching practices

Gurugram: To promote innovative education and honour the role of educators, the state education department is conducting a ‘Shiksha Parv’ across government schools in Haryana. The three-week-long event, which started on Monday and will end on September 30, will involve interactive sessions on best teaching practices.
The initiative was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year. The Union ministry of education had issued a notice to all states to implement the programme this year. The state government has decided to actively promote the event as a ‘logical step’ in its efforts to improve the teaching-learning ecosystem in state-run schools across its 22 districts, officials said.
The programme is being spearheaded by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), and its key theme is to highlight the importance of the role of educators in bridging learning gaps and using innovative teaching methods to improve learning outcomes.
“The role of teachers has always been of great significance. The way teachers took up the challenge of dealing with the disruptions caused by the pandemic was commendable. Now is the time to shift gears and enhance their capacities. We invite them to actively be part of this programme, which is meant to not only honour them but also support them in enhancing their skills,” said SCERT director Vivek Kalia.
Describing what the department perceives as innovative pedagogy, Kailia noted that the age-old practices of lectures based on textbook-oriented methods or chalk and talk method have to be done away with. He stressed upon the need to create pedagogies as per the needs and context of students.
“Identifying school-specific and students-specific needs for teaching methods and implementing it in an engaging format is in itself what we see as innovative pedagogy. These are innovative because these always involve some new components corresponding to the needs of students in different grades and from different socio-economic backgrounds,” he added.
According to SCERT, their team of block resource persons and a pool of domain experts will be mobilised this month to organise lecture series on different topics on innovative pedagogy. Basing their findings on the learning levels among the students, the series will focus on unique methods of teaching complex lessons and ensure their maximum retention.