Council plans short and smart training sessions for teachers

Till last year, different categories of teachers would be trained for eight to 10 days at a stretch in November and December.

In a move aimed at reducing the loss of teaching hours, the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Haryana, will be revamping the teacher training schedule from this year onwards. To reduce long absences from work during such training, the SCERT will be holding teacher training sessions more frequently and for a shorter duration.

Till last year, different categories of teachers would be trained for eight to 10 days at a stretch in November and December. The timing and duration left little time for follow-ups on the progress of teachers, SCERT officials said.

“Teacher training will no longer be a one-time affair. The frequency of teacher training will increase and the duration of each training session will be reduced. We will have to five or six sessions in a year at regular intervals. Instead of holding these training sessions for eight to 10 days at a stretch, we will take up training for one or two days in a single session,” said Manoj Kaushik, trainer in-charge, Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan.

Kaushik added that in addition to the reduced duration of the session, the training would now take place at the beginning of the academic session. “So far, we were holding the training sessions during the second half of the year as grants reached us only by November or December. The late timing meant that the teachers would get busy with exams, leaving little time for any follow-up,” he said.

The SCERT is the nodal organisation for training teachers in the state. Around 22,000 to 25,000 teachers are trained every year by the SCERT. Lack of sufficient infrastructure is also a factor behind the proposed revamp.

“There is a staff and infrastructure limitation at the SCERT office where these teacher training sessions are conducted. It is not possible for us to accommodate so many teachers at once. We will hold shorter training sessions so that the teachers are required to visit the training centre one day a month. They will be required to visit their nearest local centre so that the teaching time in the school is saved,” he said.

Last year, concerns had been raised by government school teachers that they were being trained towards the fag end of the academic year due to which there was a loss of crucial teaching hours during board exams preparation.

Satyanarayan Yadav, state secretary of the Haryana School Teachers Association, said that teachers would be able to appreciate the move if their demands were accepted. He said that training sessions during exams were a problem and should be avoided. “We only want the sessions to not be held during exams and fewer teachers to be asked to attend these sessions at one time. Teachers should not be missing from school for a long time,” said Yadav.