More than a hundred government school teachers from various parts of Karnataka will undergo training in the city, only to later train their peers from a thousand schools to successfully teach English in government schools across the state in the upcoming academic year.
This is a part of the state government’s ambitious '1,000 English Government Schools Project' where English will be introduced as a medium of instruction. The plan was announced during the state budget tabulated by the coalition government. For the first time, these government schools will teach in English medium in addition to the regular Kannada medium classes.
As many as four teachers from each of the 36 educational districts were selected to be master trainers. They were trained in modules created by the Department of State Educational Research and Training, Bengaluru, in association with experts from Azim Premji University.
After completing their training at the Regional Institute of English, Bengaluru, on May 8, these master trainers will head back to the allocated districts and hold a screening for the teachers which will decide the eligible candidates to teach the first standard students in English medium.
Training for the screened teachers will begin on May 13 at the district headquarters for 15 days, right in time for the classes to start.
No additional teachers were appointed for the teaching. “Schools with sufficient faculty members were shortlisted for the implementation of the project. So, if one faculty member is diverted to teaching in English class, there will be no shortage of staff,” said the commissioner of Public Instruction and the state project director for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Reju M T.
As per officials in the education department, more than Rs 45 lakh is being spent on equipping teachers with necessary information to hold English classes. Training cost for each of the 1,000 teachers for the 15 days amounts to more than Rs 300 a day, said sources.
A reserve of 500 teachers are being trained, said officials from education department.
