OCTOBER 2005
General Body of NCERT and CABE
Approve National Curriculum
Framework-2005
Governing Council of NCERT and CABE met on
T he
6 and 7 September 2005 and deliberated on the
revised National Curriculum Framework (NCF) document.
Smt. Kumud Bansal, Secretary to the Government of India,
Literacy and Elementary Education, observed that the
NCF-2005 has been widely discussed across the length and
breadth of the country and is based on the guiding principles
of linking knowledge to life outside the school; ensuring that
learning is shifted away from rote methods; enriching the
curriculum so that it goes beyond the textbooks and making
examinations more flexible. Chairman of the CABE and Union
Minister for Human Resource Development, Shri Arjun Singh,
in his opening statement recalled the CABE meeting held on
7 June 2005, in which the document was first presented and
the members of the CABE decided that there is a need for a
nation-wide discussion. Describing the NCF-2005 as lucid and
elaborate in its broad contours he said a framework cannot
become substance. It is the collective wisdom of the people of
the CABE to enable those who are qualified to frame syllabi
and textbooks. Quoting the Preamble of the Constitution the
Honourable Minister added that the Constitution of India
conveys the essence of the task required.
Shri Sudeep Banerjee, Secretary, Secondary and Higher
Education, while presenting the proceedings of the CABE
meeting held on 7 June 2005 outlined the changed perspective
reflected in the NCF. Prof. Yash Pal stated that the revised
document placed before the CABE was an improved version
of the earlier document and further deliberated that India
claims to be a knowledge society by the year 2020. She
launches satellites, the stock market is doing well and there is
a hope that India will become a member of the Security Council
of the U.N. But regretfully, only nine per cent of India’s children
pass Class XII, he added. He further stated that the time to
look for inadequacies is over, the time has come to get involved
in the task to be done. Prof. Krishna Kumar, Director, NCERT
expressing his pleasure at the privilege of placing the NCF2005 before CABE, informed the house that the document
has been put up for nation-wide discussion following the
decision of the CABE meeting on 7 June 2005. 17 States had
conducted workshops and 11 States had sent elaborated
reports for the same. He further elaborated the changes that
have been incorporated in the revised version of the draft
LIFE ETERNAL THROUGH
LEARNING
The intertwined Hansas
symbolise the integration of three
aspects of the work of the
National Council of Educational
Research and Training (NCERT):
(i) Research and Development,
(ii) Training, and (iii) Extension.
The design has been adapted from an
Ashokan period relic of the third
century B.C. found in excavations
near Maske in the Raichur district
of Karnataka.
The motto has been taken from the
Isavasya Upanishad and means
life eternal through learning.
following the suggestions made in the NCERT’s
Executive Committee, Governing Council and
CABE.
The Ministers of Education from the States
and Union Territories and members of the CABE
held in-depth discussions on all aspects of the
curriculum framework and presented their
views and suggestions for implementation and
the problems of NCF. The States of Haryana,
Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya
Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram, Manipur,
Meghalaya, Bihar, Karnataka, Himachal
Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, Goa, Sikkim and
Uttar Pradesh recorded their appreciation of
NCF and congratulated NCERT for its efforts.
The ideas advocated by NCF for the
enhancement of learning of children, linking
knowledge to life outside school, preparing a
meaningful academic and practical programme
for implementation of Vocational Education and
Training (VET), multiple textbooks and
examination reforms seek immediate attention.
Suggestions for renewed effort on involvement
of Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) in the
educational system, teaching through mother
tongue, infusion of peace-oriented values in all
subjects, emphasis on games and sports,
participatory management of schools, inclusion
of human rights, primacy of active learner,
introduction of topics like HIV/AIDS and
fostering creativity were welcomed and
applauded by the members from States.
However some of the members expressed their
apprehension on the missing links in the NCF.
The members were of the opinion that NCF
ignores traditional values and emphasizes
linking of the present to the future. Making
Class X examination optional may not ensure
active involvement of learners in learning. The
strong emphasis on pedagogy may erode content
and disciplinary orientation of disciplines.
In his concluding remarks, the Chairman
of the CABE, Hon’ble Minister Shri Arjun Singh,
agreeing to the concerns of the members, stated
that road maps for implementation must be
drawn out with active participation of the
members and various stakeholders. He also
informed that a coordination committee will be
in place to ensure that the syllabi and textbooks
do not have any flaws.
The General Council and the CABE approved
the National Curriculum Framework-2005.
NCF-2005 is also available on the
NCERT website: ncert.nic.in
India Workshop on Multilingual Education
collaboration with UNESCO, UNICEF and
I nNCERT,
a three-day India Workshop on
Multilingual Education with special focus on
Tribal Education was organised by CIIL at
Mysore from 25-27 October 2005. Over 150
delegates representing various organisations
and research institutions as well as experts/
resource persons from the four organisations
and policy makers from government
departments took part in the meeting.
Prof. Krishna Kumar, Director, NCERT,
accompanied by a team of resource persons
from four departments of NIE attended the
workshop. Prof. Ram Janama Sharma, Shri
Nasiruddin Khan and Dr Sandhya Sahoo (DOL),
Prof Neerja Shukla, Dr S.C. Chauhan and Dr
Kanan Sadhu (DEGSN), Shri R Meganathan
(Curriculum Group), Dr Manjula Mathur
2
(CIET), Prof G. Ravindra, Principal and Dr. Malli
Gandhi, Lecturer (RIE, Mysore) were nominated
to attend the workshop.
The activities comprised lectures, interactive
sessions, group and panel discussions besides
several open sessions for all participants. The
inaugural session was presided over by Shri
K.K. Sethi, Commissioner for Linguistic
Minorities, and the final session was chaired by
Ms Bela Banerjee, Joint Secretary, MHRD.
Prof. Krishna Kumar chaired the morning
session on 22 October. Prof Neerja Shukla and
Shri N Khan made brief presentations on
‘Promotion of Quality Education for Tribal
Children’ and ‘ Teaching of English in Tribal
Education Programmes’ respectively. Endorsing
his colleagues’ views, Prof Ram Janama Sharma
referred to NCERT’s recommendations given in
NCERT NEWS/October 2005
the position paper for the teaching of languages,
which are highly supportive of education
through mother tongue, multilingualism and
tribal languages.
Summing up the proceedings Prof Krishna
Kumar said that the issue of multilingual
education required appreciation and absorption
rather than specific responses. Commenting on
the role of research in educational planning and
pedagogical reforms, he said that there is no
zero point of action at which research can begin
rationally so that it reorders the world. It is
important for all of us as a community of
scholars to recognise the need for humility
rather than be seen as doers or interventionists,
who can reorder the world on demand. Social
engineering is far more complex than the
building of dams, roads and railways, he added.
According to Prof Krishna Kumar, it is very
important to redefine multilingualism as it
obtains, and is utilised, in varied economic and
political settings in today’s world order.
Multilingualism, he said, is nobody’s creation
but an achievement of human culture and
civilisation. Multilingualism in the classroom is
a resource and not a problem, which can help
us resolve the large pedagogic inertia and
educational issues.
The tribal child’s problem has to be placed
in the larger orbit of problems — health,
curricular subjects such as science,
mathematics etc., and the political economy of
India. If people’s means of livelihood are under
threat, if the environment in which tribal culture
can survive is also under threat, then the
problem has to be dealt with in a holistic manner
with due humility and acknowledgement.
The India Workshop has created general
awareness about the multilingual situation in
the country and the need to promote
multilingual competence among learners. The
consensus at the end of the day was that all
mother tongues need to be supported in the
domain of education, and strategies for linking
home languages with school languages need to
be worked out in keeping with the context. Each
State is expected to formulate State level
projects and get in touch with NCERT and CIIL
for their effective implementation. UNESCO and
UNICEF will provide support for these
programmes as well. There was general
agreement among participants that the
workshop had succeeded in meeting the
objectives it had set before itself, and had created
a conducive environment for multilingual
education in tribal areas.
Six-month Course in Guidance and Counselling Introduced
Department of Educational Psychology
T he
and Foundations of Education, NCERT has
now launched a six-month course for teachers,
teacher educators and untrained personnel
from the state education departments and
guidance agencies of the country as well as other
Asian countries. Teachers, being in close
contact with students, have a special role to
play in counselling and guiding them. However,
they need professional orientation and training.
The course aims to empower teachers to be
guides and mentors rather than only subject
experts. This is expected to bring about a
change in the perception of teachers and their
way of interaction with students.
In order to help students meet the wide range
of concerns like making friends, resolving
personal-social and value conflicts, overcoming
NCERT NEWS/October 2005
study related difficulties, examination stress,
time management, choice of courses/career,
adjustment with peers, problems of drug abuse,
HIV. AIDS etc. guidance and counselling services
have assumed significance in schools at all stages
of education particularly in the context of
universalisation of secondary education.
Way back in the history of educational policy
formulation, Mudaliar Commission (1952-53)
and Kothari Commission (1964-66) recognised
the significant contribution these services can
make to education and provided guidelines for
creating a country-wide network. As of today,
about twenty-five states and UTs have guidance
bureaus or units existing in the education
departments. Most states, however, lack the
trained manpower and/or the infrastructure to
provide these services for all the schools.
3
A Post-Graduate Diploma Course in
Guidance and Counselling for training
professional counsellors to work in schools has
been offered by the NCERT for over four decades.
This six-month course, which began on 15
September 2005 is being attended by 32
teachers, teacher educators and untrained
guidance personnel. Amongst these, seven
teachers have been deputed by the Government
of Bhutan sponsored by international
organisations like United Nations Fund for
Population Education (UNFPE) and ‘Save Our
Children’, one is from Fiji Islands and 24
deputed by fourteen State Governments across
the country.
Being open to Asian and SAARC countries,
the course provides a unique opportunity for
acquiring a multi-cultural perspective and
fostering appreciation and understanding of
cultural differences.
Training, Workshops and Meetings
NTS FOR PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED
Under the existing National Talent Search
Scheme, NCERT selects one thousand
candidates for the award of scholarships. There
is a reservation of 15% for SC and 7.5% for ST
category. The Council intends to reserve 3%
scholarships for physically challenged group of
candidates. The Department organised a twoday workshop from 19-20 September 2005 at
NIE Campus for preparing guidelines for
adopting NTS tests for the physically challenged
group of children both at the state as well as
the national level.
IT ORIENTATION FOR TEACHER-EDUCATORS
The Department of Computer Education and
Technological Aids (DCETA) organised two
twelve-day orientation programmes in the
“Integration of Information Communication
Technology (ICT) tools and IT-based learning
resources in curriculum transaction” for
Teacher Educators and Key Resource Persons
from SCERTs, SIEs, DIETs, etc. at the National
Centre for Computer Education, NIE Campus,
NCERT, New Delhi from 5 to16 September 2005
and 19 to 30 September 2005. One was
exclusively for the faculty belonging to Schedule
Caste and was attended by nine participants
from Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh,
Punjab and West Bengal. The second was
exclusively for the participants from the Northeast region and was attended by eighteen
participants from Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,
Manipur and Mizoram.
One of the major objectives of the orientation
programme was to acquaint the participants
4
with the role of information and communication
technologies in curriculum transaction and
make them receptive to the possibilities that
global information sharing opens up. The
programme gave an intensive experience and
orientation in the use of computers as a learning
tool. The programme also enabled participants
to take part in the process of development of
IT-based learning materials.
The programmes started with the
introduction of the Information and
Communication Technology and its application
in different sectors particularly in education.
Participants were acquainted with the computer
hardware, software and peripherals and
exposed to different IT tools like Word
Processing,
Database
Management,
Spreadsheet, Power Point Presentation
Program, etc. Important features of the
programmes were Global Communication
(Internet surfing/e-mail), use of regional
languages in some Window-based programs,
presentations on topics like Interactive
multimedia educational computer software;
criteria for evaluation of educational software;
design and development of computer-based
learning materials; and computer virus and
vaccines. Emphasis was on hands-onexperience and about 60 per cent of the total
time was devoted to it. Participants developed
projects/ lesson plans in their areas of
specialisation integrating different ICT tools.
HANDS ON EXPERIENCE FOR RURAL CHILDREN
Thirty-one teachers from rural areas were
trained on hands on science from 6-9
September, 2005. The workshop was divided
NCERT NEWS/October 2005
into sessions like lecture, demo, hands on
fabrication of apparatus, experiments in labs.
STRATEGIES AND INITIATIVES FOR INCLUSION AND
RETENTION OF SC GIRLS IN EDUCATION SYSTEM
The training programme on “Strategies and
Initiatives for Inclusion and Retention of SC girls
in Education System” was held from 20-29
September 2005. Thirty-eight teacher
educators from DIETs and SCERTs from States
of Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and
Uttaranchal participated in the programme.
The objective of the training programme was
to sensitise the teacher educators on the
schemes, programmes and incentives for he
benefit of SC girls, enabling them to formulate
projects on education capacity building of SC
girls and enable them to mobilise community
support for education of SC girls.
The content of the training programme
included themes like education and
socialisation of SC girls, education and
development of SC girls, promoting legal
awareness for upholding one’s rights,
empowerment of the girl child: focus on SC
girls and gender sensitive project planning.
Besides exposing the participants to the above
content, the participants got the opportunity
of viewing video films concerning issues
related to SC girls and women followed by
discussion on the film. A field visit was
organised to the National Commission for
Women to give the participants a first hand
experiences on the plans and programmes of
the organisation which is working for the
welfare of girls and women belonging to
weaker sections of society. Presentations by
participants were made which aimed at
helping each trainee to prepare a through
situational analysis of the status of SC girls
in their respective states/districts.
Participants also prepared small projects,
which they intend taking up in their own
organisations for promoting education and
empowerment of SC girls.
through science and technology. Experts with
diverse backgrounds of working in the area
have been drawn and have come together to
work for this important aspect of education.
In all, eleven participants from different parts
of the country along with three NIE and two
resource persons from New Delhi identified
hard spots for which teacher enrichment
reading material is to be prepared.
Prof. S.A. Shaffi, the Coodinator, stressed
the need for development of teacher
enrichment reading material for training of
Key Resouce Persons in science and
technology which would help to bring quality,
access and modernisation of teachers and
minority madarsa institutions and speed up
the process of bringing those to the national
stream as envisaged in NPE 1986, POA 1992
and NCF 2005.
The workshop deliberated at length and
opined that the enrichment material may be
evolved in view of problem solving questions and
knowledge construction ability of the learners.
NCERT CELEBRATES
FOUNDATION DAY
ITS
44TH
The Council celebrated its 44th Foundation
Day on 1 September 2005. The programme
started with lighting of lamp by Prof. Puran
Chand, Joint Director, Prof. Neerja Shukla,
Head, DEGSN and Shri Tookki Giri,
Sr. Peon, CIET.
The welcome song and dance programme
were presented by the children of Kendriya
Vidyalaya, NCERT campus. The Director also
invited the NCERT Staff pensioners for tea.
New Publications
•
Mini Tool Kit (New Edition)
MODERNISING MADARASA
•
Little Steps
A two-day workshop for screeening of science
and technology textbooks of class IX and X for
modernising madarsa education was organised
from 14 to 15 September 2005 in the Special
Needs Centre, NCERT, New Delhi. This project
aims at modernising madarsa education
•
A Manual for Pre-School Teachers
NCERT NEWS/October 2005
Journals
•
Indian Educational Review, July 2005
•
Indian Educational Review, January 2005
5
NCERT Helps Indian Army’s Goodwill School in Kargil
– a household name since 1999 derives
K argil
its identity as a matter of discussion in the
context of India-Pakistan war. However, for the
Council it continues to exist as any other district
of India where life is difficult, challenging and
therefore education of children requires special
and thoughtful efforts. It became a professional
responsibility when General Officer
Commanding, 8 Mountain Division (Div. of
Army that fought 1999 war and is located in
Kargil now) approached NCERT, Department
of Elementary Education to conduct a training
programme for the teachers of Army Good Will
Schools. Indian Army as part of its nationwide
Operation Sadbhavana runs eight Goodwill
Schools for the local children in Kargil District.
The level of schools varies depending upon the
availability of the children. The school in
Hardass village is upto Class X, which is named
after a 1971 war martyr Nb. Sbdr. Harka
Bahadur. This is the school where a team of six
members from the NCERT organised a five-day
training for 30 teachers from the Goodwill
Schools of Kargil district. The range of ages of
the teachers, gender division, and language,
indicated that the youth of Kargil as a group, is
gearing towards urbanisation and at the same
time is aware of the limited opportunities
available to them.
A team comprising Ms S.K. Shyamala and
Mr Prabhakar, DMS, Regional Institute of
Education (RIE), Mysore; Dr Kameshwar Rao,
RIE, Bhubaneshwar; Dr S.K. Gupta, RIE
Bhopal; Dr Saroj Pandey, Dept. of Teacher
Education and Extension and Ms. Latika
Gupta, Consultant, Dept. of Elementary
Education visited Kargil in the last week of
September 2005.
The sessions were held on pedagogy of
various school subjects, learners’ problems,
various learning principles and teachers’ own
career prospects as most of them are still doing
graduation.
The time span of five days proved to be too
short. The team primarily focussed upon various
skills and on giving an experience of enquiry
specific to various disciplines. The sessions on
mathematics and science were combined to give
6
them a variety of experiences on scientific enquiry
using topics like measurement, forces in nature
etc. The trainers also helped the school in
establishing a science lab with various
equipment, which were already available there
but could not be put to use. The sessions in
English were used to familiarise the
participants with the basic skills of language
learning and strategies to develop skills of
listening, speaking, reading and writing. The
sessions on social sciences were focused upon
giving the trainees an experience of knowledge
construction in the discipline and the relevance
and role of local knowledge in developing a
repertoire of the skills embedded in the
discipline. The training was conducted in a
participatory mode and provided an opportunity
for enquiry and hands-on-experience.
This training programme is actually a
beginning towards a new terrain of learning
for the NCERT team as well. The power of
nature is strong enough to defeat many
established learning principles there. As a
matter of fact the team not only witnessed the
compassionate aspect of the Indian Army but
also learnt a great deal about the 1999 war
and the Army’s operations in the district.
Understanding the functioning of 155 mm
Bofors gun and witnessing a dry run was a
unique experience for the team members. The
programme ended with a lot of promises and
voluntary offers from both thus sides’
operationalising goodwill in the real sense.
NCERT NEWS/October 2005
Workshop on Training of State Resource Persons of
Manipur in Error Analysis in Social Sciences and Language
workshop on Training of State
A five-day
Resource Persons of Manipur in Error
Analysis in Social Sciences and Language was
organised from 29 August to 3 September, 2005
by the Department of Educational Measurement
and Evaluation, NCERT in collaboration with the
Manipur Board of Secondary Education at
Imphal, Manipur. The main objective of the
Workshop was to build the capacity of State
Resource Persons in Error Analysis in Social
Sciences and Language, to improve the quality
of teaching and learning at school level and to
suggest improvement in curriculum.
About 70 teachers teaching Manipuri,
English, history, geography, civics and
economics attended the workshop. Two
hundred answer scripts were analysed in
each subject for the errors committed by
pupils as well as evaluators. In the process of
the analysis the participants were trained in
error analysis.
A report covering the analysis of errors
committed by pupils and evaluators in
languages and social sciences was brought out
which will be printed by the Board and circulated
to schools for the information of teachers so that
they can strengthen their teaching in
problematic areas. This in turn will help in
qualitative improvement of teaching and learning
in schools.
Towards a Vision of NCERT in 2020
Council has embarked on a series of
T he
internal consultations among faculty
members to evolve a vision of the organisation
by 2020. It is intended to consult stakeholders
at large as the culmination of the exercise by
the end of the year and come out with a vision
document to guide the organisation in the
coming of current and next decade. The first
Workshop in this series was held from 2-3
September 2005. The Workshop deliberated
upon the analysis of the responses of
individual faculty members and group
response from various constituents of the
Council in a widely circulated concept paper
titled “Towards vision of NCERT - 2020”. The
paper is also available on the NCERT website
for public access. A core team consisting of Dr.
Utpal Malik, Dr. Pranti Panda, Dr. Kanan
Sadhu, Dr. Jitender Singh, Dr. P.K. Misra, Mr.
M.V. Srinivasan, and Dr. Y. Sreeknath, and
coordinated by Dr. C.S. Nagaraju analysed the
responses and presented the same in the
workshop alongwith a key note address. The
NCERT NEWS/October 2005
deliberation was enriched by the participation
of former stalwarts of NCERT like Prof. A.K.
Sharma, Dr. T.N. Dhar, Prof. A.K Jalalluddin,
Dr. M.M. Choudhry, Prof. G.L. Arora, Prof. H.S.
Srivastava, and Dr. B.L. Pandit.
The participants worked in a small group
under the guidance of former eminent faculty
members to formulate parameters of vision of
the Council in the context of emerging
development in the field of education in
particular and in the cognate areas of human
activities in general. The participants
represented all constituents of the Council, the
RIEs,PSSCIVE, CIET and consisted of all those
individual members who had sent in their
responses to the vision concept paper. The
document coming out of the proceedings of the
workshop would be the starting point of the
deliberation of the second workshop proposed
during November 2005. The faculty members,
who could not participate in the first workshop,
will assemble to carry on the internal discourse
of the visioning exercise.
7
Thursday Lecture Series
The following lectures were organised by DERPP under
the Thursday Lecture Series at CIET building, NCERT.
•
“Students’ Achievement in DPEP Phase II” by
Dr. SKS Gautam, DEME, NCERT on 4 August 2005
•
“Changing Status of School Teachers and its
Consequences” by Dr. Sadhna Saxena, Department
of Education, Delhi University on 11 August 2005
•
Screening of Film “Memories of Partition and
Historiography/Khamosh Pani” by Dr. Urvashi Butalia
on 18 August 2005
•
“Panel Discussion on Quality in Education” by Prof.
A.K. Jalaluddin, Prof.R. Govinda, Prof. Krishna Kumar
and Dr. Sandhya Pranjpe on 25 August 2005
•
“Panel Discussion on Future Scenario of the Country”
by Dr. Ramesh Babu, RIE Bhopal and Dr. Raja Ram
Sharma, CIET, NCERT on 1 September 2005
•
“Dialogue between Research and Policy” by
Prof. C.S. Nagaraju, DERPP on 8 September, 2005
•
“Models of Integration of ICT in Education” by Dr.
Anjali Prakash, CEO, Learning Links Foundation on
15 September 2005
•
“Management of Change : Introducing Inclusion (A
Case Study)” by Ms Annie Koshi, Principal, St. Mary’s
School on 22 September 2005
•
“Film Show on Valley of Flowers” by Dr. Raja Sharma,
CIET on 29 September 2005
PROMOTIONS
1.
2.
3.
4.
Sh. R.B. Azad, Under Secretary appointed as
Dy. Secretary w.e.f. 30.9.05 (AN)
Lt. Col. Sandeep Kumar Dhankhar, appointed as VSO
w.e.f. 31.10.05.
Sh. O.P. Dhyani, LDC appointed as UDC w.e.f.
21.11.05.
Sh. Attar Singh, LDC appointed as UDC w.e.f.
21.11.05.
RETIREMENT
1.
Sh. O.P. Arora, Deputy Secretary on 30.9.05.
2.
3.
4.
Sh. R.P. Sharma, Section Officer, on 30.9.05.
Sh. Om Prakash, Section Officer on 30.9.05.
Smt. Sushila Rochlani, UDC on 30.9.05.
5.
Sh. D.C. Bathmi, UDC on 30.9.05.
Publication Team
P. Rajakumar
Shveta Uppal
Rajaram S. Sharma
Arun Chitkara
Design : Kalyan Banerjee
Back Margin
In a personal letter a primary teacher has
lamented that despite participating in several
training programmes he does not feel satisfied.
Nor does he find any reason or motivation to
change his way of teaching. He has asked why
this should be so. One seldom comes across
something as close as this to the realization
that training, as it is presently given, does not
make much difference. Most training
programmes end with a general celebration of
the arrangements made and the topics covered.
How training can become an experience that
one might recall with pleasure and inspiration
seldom receives sustained attention. ‘Seldom’
in this case has a rather extreme meaning. Few
years ago I stumbled on one of the early annual
reports of the Central Training College of
Lahore, set up in 1885. I felt somewhat numb
when I found that several ideas and the terms
used in it had a contemporary feel, particularly
the vocabulary used for describing a good lesson
and its evaluation. It felt as if time had stopped.
Teacher training institutions need to
register the impasse they have stayed with in
the history of educational psychology. The idea
that certain techniques and methods can be
imparted without a solid basis of theory and
the means of personal development - aimed at
equipping teachers to reflect on their own
practice - requires sharp questioning. There
are undoubtedly several innovative programmes
around which show the way, but the
mainstream of teacher training has remained
frozen. The situation has been compounded by
trivalisation of the profession itself, and further
by the growth of a feeling among teachers that
their profession has little value. Those of us
who train or retrain teachers need to know how
teachers feel. If their perspective is shaped by
either a sense of threat or neglect, our efforts
will not succeed. We will have to stand by the
teacher. If introspection is good for everybody,
it cannot be irrelevant for trainers. For much
too long, training college students have been
saying, without being heard, that trainers do
not practice what they preach.
Krishna Kumar
Website : www.ncert.nic.in, E-mail: publica@nda.vsnl.net.in
Published at the Publication Department by the Secretary, National Council of Educational Research and
Training, Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110 016, Lasertypeset in-house and printed at Tara Offset Pvt. Ltd.,
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8
NCERT NEWS/October 2005