To enhance learning level of students, the HRD ministry has adopted a new mantra – improve teacher knowledge.
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For this, introduction of teaching tools, mandatory yearly training, interactive sessions through satellite and better student-teacher ratio by hiring more teachers, are the measures the government has decided to take.
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Hit by NCERT reports of low learning level in government schools around the country, the ministry of Human Resource Development has decided to build up additional teaching resources and monitor teacher attendance in schools.
A study in 21 states to analyse impact of teacher absenteeism will be completed by March 2007.
The states have been asked to hire additional 4.92 lakh teachers, apart from filling the vacancies, to improve pupil-teacher ratio.
HRD officials say states like Bihar and Madhya Pradesh have already started process to hire over one lakh teachers under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan.
In a major change in strategy, teachers will no longer be spectators in curriculum review. A group of NGOs, teachers and education officers are part of a committee to formulate syllabus for primary level textbooks with more focus on issues related to students. Field trials will also be conducted. So, many states now have better textbooks which are simpler in language and carry more local content.
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This is being augmented by HRD ministry's initiative to use education satellite EDUSAT for improving teacher training and building classroom resources.
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This is being augmented by HRD ministry's initiative to use education satellite EDUSAT for improving teacher training and building classroom resources.
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EDUSAT-supported intervention centres have been stated in seven states - Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradsh, Tamil Nadu and Haryana - on pilot basis, at a cost of Rs 14 crore, for improving classroom interaction between students in one state with another.
Teachers will be trained at a nodal office and experiences in different states will be shared, while students will learn what is being taught in other states.
"We have identified neighbouring districts of adjoining states because of cultural and linguistic affinity," a ministry official said, adding that computer-aided learning tools were being provided to schools.
Apart from the national level, many states have initiated measures to improve students learning levels.
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Andhra Pradesh, which conducted special classes for weaker students, had instant results with students clearing tests with high grades improved from 30 per cent to 70 per cent.
In Maharashtra, education guarantee scheme for eight lakh students, perceived to be weak in reading, writing and arithmetic, was launched with student getting incentives to attend extra classes.
States like Gujarat and Uttranchal have launched special grading schemes to analyse students learning levels at regular intervals.
But, whether the programmes have worked or not for primary level will be measured by new baseline surveys starting next year as per the new national competency norms developed by NCERT.
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.
