In an attempt to strengthen English education in the state, the Uttar Pradesh Secondary Education Department has decided to provide online spoken English training to teachers of government colleges. The move stands to benefit 30,000 teachers and over one crore students enrolled in UP secondary schools from Classes IX-XII.

The course for this online training has been developed by the English Language Teaching Institute (ELTI), Prayagraj, which is a unit of the UP State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT). The course is designed to provide an environment of the English language and give ample practice in listening to and speaking English, as per a report by IANS.

The online course has 132 modules that are 10 minutes each. The modules are interactive in nature and there is an assessment at the end of each course module. The Director of Secondary Education Sarita Tiwari has asked the District Inspectors of Schools (DIOS) and Joint Directors to ensure English teachers in their districts and divisions undergo this training.

Vikas Srivastava, Deputy Director, said, "With English as the world language, it is important to make teachers proficient. The spoken English course will be beneficial to teachers from across the streams — Science, Commerce and Humanities," as per IANS.

Meanwhile, ELTI principal Skand Shukla said, "This course is different from the existing courses in the private sector in providing knowledge of essential grammar, syntax, common errors and conversation practices, and it also follows the general Indian English based on the British pronunciation."