IISER undertakes teachers’ training to encourage innovation at student level

The residential workshop – being held from May 18 to 28 – aims at building the capacity of teachers for Classes 6 to 10

PUNE A 10-day teachers’ development workshop, under the iRISE (Inspiring India in Research, Innovation and STEM Education) programme, is currently underway at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune.

The phase 2 batch was inaugurated on Thursday by professor Jayant Udagonkar, director, IISER Pune (HT PHOTO)

The residential workshop – being held from May 18 to 28 – aims at building the capacity of teachers for Classes 6 to 10 and creating innovation champions across different districts of Maharashtra. A desired outcome of the programme is to train teachers in inquiry- and activity-based learning, encourage innovation at the student level, and enhance the quality of idea submissions, thereby encouraging more entries for the Indian government’s department of science and technology’s MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspirations and Knowledge) programme.

iRISE is a flagship programme in collaboration between the department of science and technology (DST), Government of India; IISER Pune; British Council; Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) UK; and Tata Technologies and is being implemented by IISER Pune. The programme is supported by SCERT, CBSE and various educational bodies in Maharashtra.

The phase 2 batch was inaugurated on Thursday by professor Jayant Udagonkar, director, IISER Pune; and Vishal Solanki, DDG and director of CPTP, YASHADA. Dr Sourabh Dube, associate professor, Physics, IISER Pune and co-project investigator, iRISE programme; Vikas Garad, deputy director, SCERT; Tejaswini Alwekar, head, science department, SCERT; and Manisha Thathe, SCERT were also present at the event.

Dr Dube said, “In Maharashtra, the target is to create more than 300 innovation champions, and 9,000 innovation coaches over two years from the pool of science and mathematics teachers in collaboration with SCERT, Pune; CBSE; and educational societies (Rayat, Shree Shivaji, Matsyodari, Swami Vivekanand, Saraswati Bhuvan, Shirpur Shikshant Sanstha etc.).”

He elaborated that IISER Pune will implement the teachers’ development programme in phases. Having received more than 1,000 applications from teachers of SCERT, educational societies and CBSE, phase 1 has successfully concluded with around 564 science and mathematics teachers in three batches. Three-hundred-and-forty-three teachers have been selected for phase 2, out of which about 60 teachers will be participating in the first batch of phase 2. During the 10-day workshop, teachers will be introduced to concepts of STEM education, process innovation, and cascade training modules. This workshop will engage the participating teachers proactively by incorporating inquiry- and activity-based learning.

In his opening remarks, professor Udagonkar, director, IISER Pune, said, “Good teaching does not have any substitute and students should be encouraged to think on their own and have an innovative temperament. Also, he expressed his happiness that programmes like these will build the next generation talent pools that will be joining the IITs and IISERs in future.”