Teacher training is changing the face of education in Meghalaya

Many government-aided schools in Meghalaya did not have BEd teachers, so round 3500 teachers had been trained in leading edge pedagogies

Untrained teachers are probably the most largest elements for the persistently low learning results in students, says DP Wahlang, foremost secretary to the federal government of Meghalaya. Based at the surveys by way of suppose tanks, it has been discovered that schooling reforms are conceivable handiest through skilled instructor coaching.

"In Meghalaya, more than 50% of the teachers are untrained. They may have the subject knowledge but lack innovative pedagogies to make lessons more engaging for the classroom. Most of these teachers in government-aided schools have not undergone formal teacher training such as the BEd and hence lack the skills to deliver effective classroom teaching," Wahlang tells Education Times.

To cope with this drawback, Meghalaya undertook the Teacher Professional Development initiative for secondary and higher secondary teachers, as part of the Supporting Human Capital Development Programme supported by way of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) since 2015. The state has partnered with IPE Global for the design and delivery of the programme.

"The initiative focussing on the professional development of in-service teachers and subject expert training in Math and Science, around 3500 teachers have been trained in various modules including classroom management, teaching strategy, motivation strategies, innovation practices, academic leadership and communication skills," says Wahlang.

Earlier, even fundamental workouts akin to preparing a lesson plan for a school room have been lacking but after the training we're adopting a number of such practices in our daily routine, say the educators.

"In the first phase of the training, the facilitators teach us how to improve our practices by making learning interactive using various aids such as props and models or audio-video resources available on the internet. The second phase is implementing this learning in the classrooms and the third phase involves further fine-tuning of these practices as per the needs of the students," says Rahul Chatterjee, a Physics instructor with Jail Road Boys Higher Secondary School, Meghalaya.

A significant issue faced by way of Bakordor W Bannett, foremost, Pariong Higher Secondary SchooI, in her classrooms, is the absence of interest amongst students to ask questions and disinterest in responding to any questions asked by way of the trainer.

"The fundamental of any learning process is that students ask questions, which was missing from our classrooms earlier, but as we make sessions interesting, we can see the changing effect. It is a small step and a lot still needs to be done," she says, including her instructional leadership coaching helped her gain numerous insights into school room management.

"Being a school from a rural area we have students from various socio-economic backgrounds and the insights have helped me be more aware about their individual needs," she says. Nairubam Paul, a Mathematics instructor in Meghalaya, says, "The change that I am seeing in the classrooms is that the training is helping the teachers in creating an environment of learning which has resulted in an increase in student enrolments." To measure the effectiveness of the training programme, which would conclude quickly, Meghalaya will behavior a third-party audit, says Wahlang.