By TCN Special Correspondent,
Lucknow: The ambitious project for enhancement of skills of madarsa teachers has failed to take off in Lucknow. The 15-days training being provided by the education department was halted after the second batch of madarsa teachers failed to turn up for training.
The training sponsored by Minority Welfare Department and conducted at District Institute of Educational Training (DIET) is part of the madarsa modernisation programme. The teachers of madarsas who had never seen a computer and stick to the conventional approach are offered practical training on various aspects.
A total of 127 teachers from 29 madarsas are to be offered training in DIET Lucknow. They will be given practical training through a specially designed training module Rehnuma (mentor) for the teachers. “The module is customised to their requirements by the State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT). It includes activity based classroom management, language teaching, mathematics and others.
“Exposure to computer and audio visual aids is also provided,” stated Principal DIET, Lalita Pradeep. She informed that an ideal condition of a classroom is created during the training and the madarsa teachers are taught the basic teaching methods. “Some of them are really bright and are quite excited over the training by reciprocating and grasping well the subject,” she added.
However, the good phase soon ended after the completion of training of first batch of 35 teachers. The next batch which included teachers from 17 madarsas run by Eram Educational Society in Lucknow was to be trained from January 10. But the teachers did not report for training while the DIET officials dispatched a reminder. “The manager took the reprieve that only newly appointed teachers in his madarsas are eligible for training and they are not available as the madarsas have closed following administrative order on cold weather conditions.
It is a lame excuse as the schools are closed only for children and not teachers,” said the Principal, DIET. Later, another effort was done to approach the management of these madarsas but they refused to relent claiming that it will be possible to attend only in February.
“They are just buying time and are not showing any interest. We will inform the minority welfare department for action against the management after the final date of January 17 expires and they don’t turn up,” she said.
Meanwhile, the manager, Eram Educational Society stated that he has received the directions of DIET principal and will send his teachers for training. “They will report on January 17 for the training and there is no ambiguity in it,” he claimed.