In an attempt to increase the number of teachers in primary school education and also to devise means to improve their quality, a delegation of officials from Mozambique are here in India. As part of their quest, the officials visited a Government primary school and also interacted with teachers of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) near Tambaram recently.
A 10-member team visited St. Thomas Mount Panchayat Union Primary School in Moongil Eri, Pammal, before visiting the Block Resource Centre in Chitlapakkam. R. Malathi, Senior Consultant, SSA and a team of Block Resource Teacher Educators (BRTE) made a presentation to the delegation about the history of SSA and how its two important components — Activity Based Learning and Advanced Learning Methodology had transformed primary and upper primary education in Tamil Nadu and how this model was being closely watched and even replicated by other States of India.
Raquel Raimundo, Head, Department of Teacher Training, Mozambique, told The Hindu that just like in India, they too faced many challenges in the area of primary education, only that there were far too many problems in the area of skilled teachers. The primary objective behind their visit to India was to find out means to improve the quality of teachers who teach children back home in the southern African nation.
She said that the delegation mostly comprised officials involved in moulding or improving the quality of teaching in the primary education sector. Once they were able to find a solution to this important problem, there would be an overall improvement in the whole of primary education, she said.
Reacting to teacher-student relationship in schools in Tamil Nadu, the delegation had found it on a high note and that they were impressed with the rapport students and teachers enjoyed, thanks to the concepts such as play-way method and use of educational kit.
N.C. Krishnan, Chairman of St. Thomas Mount Panchayat Union, informed the delegation that the State Government was the principal driving force behind providing learning material to all schools of Tamil Nadu and also provided nutritious meals to students across the spectrum.
The delegation from Mozambique has already visited Rishi Valley School, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, before visiting Chennai. They would also be visiting Rajasthan before returning home. ABL and ALM methods being successfully in more than 38,000 schools in Tamil Nadu have attracted the attention of administrators in the field of education from several countries of the world including China and the United Kingdom, apart from several States Governments in India. Model primary schools in the city’s immediate southern suburbs such as those in Perungalathur, Pammal, Nanmangalam and Chitlapakkam among others have been visited by the delegations, K. Gunasekaran, Supervisor, SSA, said.
