How would you like to build capacity, Andhra Pradesh govt asks teachers

The Education Department of Andhra Pradesh has taken an initiative aimed at strengthening the capacities of teachers, ultimately leading to improved learning outcomes of the students.

Amaravati: The Education Department of Andhra Pradesh has taken an initiative aimed at strengthening the capacities of teachers, ultimately leading to improved learning outcomes of the students. The department is conducting an online survey involving all 1.95 lakh teachers working in government schools to understand their professional development needs.

This is the first time that such an exercise is being undertaken as our emphasis has been on improving the teaching standards in government schools thereby enhancing the learning outcomes. Our main endeavour is to improve teaching, School Education Commissioner S Suresh Kumar said. The survey would help prioritise the training areas in future, he said here on Wednesday. Besides, the data (from the survey) would be used to design new and innovative training and classroom-based support for teachers in tune with their requirements.

Government schools in the State are on a transition course, moving towards CBSE from State curriculum. Also, the government is seeking to convert all its schools from Telugu to English (medium of instruction), though it depends on the Supreme Court's judgement in an ongoing litigation. With focus on the National Education Policy-2020, the government is deploying subject teachers for all classes, unlike in the past when only a single teacher used to handle multiple subjects in many classes.

The State government is also in the forefront in using digital technologies for classroom-teaching. All this requires the teachers to be fully equipped, not only in their subjects but also in emerging technologies. Accordingly, the Education Department wants to keep the teachers geared up. Hence, the focus on capacity-building, a senior official of the department said. (PTI)