BMC teachers8217; training programme draws flak

June 22: Students have lost their study hours and teachers are furious about the shoddy manner in which the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporat...

June 22: Students have lost their study hours and teachers are furious about the shoddy manner in which the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC launched its ten-day training programme for primary teachers which commenced on June 16.

Teachers and principals alike have roundly condemned the ongoing programme as much for its inadequate8217; agenda as for its timing. The programme ends on June 25.

Ratnakar Gaikwad, additional municipal commissioner in charge of education, was initially not even aware of the programme during school working hours. He later told Express Newsline that the problem arose due to non co-operation of the teachers. The teachers were supposed to undergo this programme during the vacation time which they did not, he clarified.

The primary teachers of Gujarati medium schools taking training at Manoharadas Street Municipal Gujarati school near GPO said they were never intimated about the programme to be undertaken during the vacation time.Convenor of A8217; and B8217; ward and principal of Sir JJ Fort Girls High School, H N Pal retorted, quot;I was told that the training programme will start only after the school reopensquot;.

Principal of G D Somani Memorial School, M P Sharma said, quot; There has to be a uniform pattern of education. I do not find any justification in singling out only the state board schools for this programme.quot;

The programme based on the National Policy on Education, 1986 recommends a competency-based approach to teaching to ensure qualitative enhancement at the primary education level. The nine competencies for the children included in the programme are: listening, speaking, reading, writing, comprehension through listening and reading, functional grammar, self learning, language use, vocabulary control 1500 words 8211; reading comprehension with the help of play-way method.

But as the vice president of Mumbai Association of Heads of Secondary Schools, A R Motlekar observed, quot;This new programme is ideal only for some BMC schools and rural schools. In private, aided city schools, where kids have enough learning in their kindergarten classes, this programme is retrogressive in nature.quot;

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That the government and BMC have not taken the principals into confidence about the new programme has further irked them. quot;From the media, we learnt of the government8217;s effort to better the education system. quot;The principals8217; association plans to meet the education secretary soon for a dialogue on the government8217;s plans on education and the shortfalls of the ongoing programmes,8221; further informed Motlekar.

Several schools in suburb still follow the old syllabus in primary standards and their teachers are not undergoing the training programme, said Pal.

Ultimately where a city school usually has as high a teacher-student ratio as 1:60-80, the new method based on keen observation and evaluation of the kids competencies, how much success of the programme can be ensured? Especially where parents need to be convinced of the merit of no homework?

Teachers participating in the programme have few answers, though several pointed out that there should have been some new definition of teacher-student ratio as well.