Pvt motivators to infuse passion in govt teachers

Having failed to motivate school teachers, the state government is now seeking professional help to train them. For the first time, the state education department will take the help of private agencies for this purpose.

Under the state’s Sarva Shikshan Abhiyan (SSA), government officials plan to rope in the likes of motivational speaker Shiv Khera to inspire teachers at their annual training camps in April and May. The first phase will begin next year.

Earlier, the teachers’ training programme was conducted by ‘resource persons’, who are also teachers but of different subjects, trained at a nodal centre. Now, however, the SSA aims to bring about innovation to raise the quality bar.

Narendra Kawde, project director of the Maharashtra Prathamik Shikshan Parishad, said, “The same teachers are picked up as resource persons every year. There is no innovation in their teaching methods. We need to bring about a change and so we are planning to rope in private agencies.”

The SSA is in the process of shortlisting a few agencies. Any NGOs known for their work in the field of education will be considered. “Private agencies are equipped with new methodologies and new teaching techniques,” Kawde said. “We will try to get motivators like Shiv Khera. Our teachers need to improve the quality of the students.”

Maharashtra was announced as the third state in the country to make optimum use of funds and resources given to it under the SSA scheme.  Before the next academic year, teachers from Std I to VIII from all over the state will undergo this training. According to Nandkumar Jadhav, principal, CKT High School, Panvel, the programme will definitely help to improve the quality of education. “The quality will improve to a great extent,” Jadhav said. “They are more passionate as compared to our teachers.”