Teachers in government schools of Punjab will now seemingly turn into ‘students’, as the state education department has launched a programme ‘School Mentoring by Higher Institutes’ under which experts from universities will guide and train academicians at a school level. As many as 8,800 teachers from around 2,200 government schools in Punjab will undertake this training which will be held till February 10, 2023, an official notification released by the education department said.
The government of Punjab has set aside a budget of Rs 44 lakh for the ‘School Mentoring by Higher Institutes’ programme. Each school will get a share of
Rs 2,000 to facilitate the training which includes Rs 1,800 as honorarium for the resource person, Rs 110 for lunch and snacks, and Rs 90 for stationery. Ludhiana will get the highest share in the allocation with Rs 4.14 lakh as it has the highest number of schools at 207 of all the cities in the state.
Experts from top notch institutes in India such as Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (ISER), Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration (MGSIPA) and other eminent local universities will participate in this training programme for knowledge sharing and skill development.
The topics on which experts from these institutes will mentor school teachers include child psychology (pre and post Covid) and education technology in capacity building. Other areas on which training will be provided under the programme include stress management, time management, implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and topics related to innovation in teaching.
The training activity will be overseen by the District Education Officer (DEO) in their respective areas. Officials have been directed to prepare a micro plan under the DEO’s guidance to keep a record of all the mentoring programmes.