E-Paper
Mumbai university colleges start online training programmes for teachers
Several university affiliated colleges have now started online training programmes for their staff with the aim to upgrade skills and subject knowledge in preparation for the next academic year.
The lockdown might have affected routine lectures and the semester-end exam session for city-based higher education institutes, but they are not letting this free time go unfruitful. Several university affiliated colleges have now started online training programmes for their staff with the aim to upgrade skills and subject knowledge in preparation for the next academic year.
“These are courses we’d have otherwise asked teachers to take during the summer vacation, but this year, since teachers are already free, we are ensuring they upgrade their knowledge as well as learn some new teaching pedagogy,” said Ashok Wadia, principal of Jai Hind Autonomous College, Churchgate. These courses have been on for over a week now and the college, as the same time, is also conducting webinars for their students as well as interested students of other institutions on career calls and higher education opportunities.
Similarly, the management of Shri Vile Parle Kelvani Mandal (SVKM) has started online training for the staff of all the institutes under their aegis. “We have also encouraged our staff to look up other new and interesting courses that could help enhance their understanding of any chosen subject and submit a report on the same by May 3,” said Anju Kapoor, principal of Usha Pravin Gandhi College, Vile Parle, a part of the SVKM group.
The union government has already released recommendations by two separate expert committees, both suggesting online exams in July followed by start of the new 2020-21 academic year by September this year. However, experts have pointed at the fact that online exams will not be possible for colleges and universities set up in rural India as many students will have no access to computers or internet. At present, Maharashtra state government is yet to announce their final call on what lies ahead for higher education institutes and students.
“Since the future is uncertain, we have been encouraging students to keep opting for all the free online courses made available by the union human resource development (HRD) ministry. Our IT team, meanwhile, has been working extra hours to ensure that our teachers are being trained on new concepts in various fields for their knowledge enhancement,” said Marie Fernandes, principal of St Andrew’s College, Bandra.
