Date: Ongoing program, started on April 6, 2015
Place: Uttar Pradesh
On April 6, 2015, Sri Aurobindo Society (SAS) launched an inspirational, Integral Education-based training program for the in-service teachers and principals of the National Mission for Secondary Education in Uttar Pradesh (UP). The program is running across the 75 districts of the state through 12 nodal centres, and more than 10,000 teachers and 2,000 principals have been trained within the first six months (as of September 30, 2015).
The program is a part of the SAS Rupantar Program—a large education transformation initiative under which SAS is implementing six ground-breaking projects in UP with its implementation partner, Litchi Knowledge Centre. Rupantar is bringing about a positive change by working in direct collaboration with the UP State Government, with partnership and funding of socially responsible corporates and other non-profits working in the same field.
The innovative teachers training program aims to help educators pursue individual excellence, discover their inspiration and strengths, acknowledge the power of their profession in transforming the lives of their students, and how the nation’s progress is directly correlated with the quality of their teaching. With deeper human values as its basis, the educators also sensitised about inclusive education, child-centred learning, positive classroom environment, and use of every-day technology in teaching.
Importantly, this effort will be sustained by the teachers themselves, as master trainers will be prepared to further coach the other teachers in their district.
With 98 percent positive feedback from participants, the program is delivering excellent positive change in each one of them. The specific outcomes of the program include:
• Visibly increased self-belief, determination and accountability in educators towards themselves and their profession
• A clearer understanding of what the Education System of today demands from them.
• An evolved awareness of the deeper human values in oneself and in the students.
• Creation of specific and measurable tools for effective teaching.
• Techniques for creating a positive classroom environment.
• Sensitisation on integral and child-centred learning and inclusive education framework.
• Motivation to inspire students by taking on bigger responsibilities towards nation building.
• A more confident and open approach towards technology-enabled educational tools.
An attendee from Lucknow, Dr. Kusum Lata, writes, “The trainings are commendable… The mutual exchange of ideas between educators from several districts that happened here can make the education process interesting and effective, so there can be wholesome development of the students.” Another attendee from Mainpuri, Sahim, writes in his feedback, “[In these 5 days] I found back my identity as teacher, which I’d lost somewhere along the way. I feel confident that in my career, I’ll be able to inculcate several qualities in my students that I’ve myself gained here.”
After the first month of launch itself, the State Government had extended the training from three-day session to to five days based on the results. Now, although initially started for teachers only, it has been extended to principals as well.
Seeing the efficiency and outcomes, some other major states are also showing interest in this program and it is hoped that it will be replicated across India in the not too distant future.