Amid all the gloom about delayed salaries and having too many extra duties, here’s some good news for teachers working under the Punjab government. At least 50 teachers from the state’s schools would be flown to Canada for a one month training programme at the University of Toronto in Canada this July.
The all-expenses-paid trip would cost the government around 7,000 Canadian dollars (Rs 3.8 lakh) per teacher. A committee of the school education department would make the selection.
The offer has come on short notice, as May 20 has been set as the last date to apply online.
Complete information and the form are available at www.ssapunjab.org.
Conditions apply, though. The teachers have to have served 10 years as a government teacher and must have 10 years of service left till retirement.
Also, they would have to fill up a bond to continue in service for five years after the programme, and their services could be sought anywhere in the state as ‘resource persons’ for trainings and seminars.
To qualify first, candidates have to have TOEFL (Test of English and Foreign Languages) with minimum score of 79 or an IELTS (International English Language Testing System) certificate with a score of 6.5, as per the terms in the agreement inked by the state department with the university’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
{{/usCountry}}To qualify first, candidates have to have TOEFL (Test of English and Foreign Languages) with minimum score of 79 or an IELTS (International English Language Testing System) certificate with a score of 6.5, as per the terms in the agreement inked by the state department with the university’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
{{/usCountry}}FUNDS NO HITCH
The funds for the Canada training programme for teachers would not be a hitch as the otherwise cash-strapped state government has allocated Rs 2.5 crore for it under the Punjab Education Development Fund. This particular fund comes from the excise department in the form of Rs 1 education cess levied on every liquor bottle sold in the state, and is ideally meant for upcoming Adarsh Schools for poor rural, meritorious students.
SELECTION PANEL
Education minister Sikandar Singh Malukahas notified his confidant, director, public instructions (secondary), Kamal Garg, to head the selection panel that would have at least two more department officials.