Mumbai: President of the State teachers’ union, Shikshak Parishad (Mumbai Division), Anil Bornare, has said that the 21-day career counselling course to be held for Class XI and Class X State board teachers in April, giving them a ‘Career Master’ qualification, is inconvenient because of its location, B.N.N. College in Bhiwandi.
The course will be attended by teachers from Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Palghar districts. “For teachers from Mumbai, it will be a very time-consuming task. Officials should institute the course in Mumbai, parallel to arrangements at Bhiwandi, so that both Thane district and Mumbai can benefit, since counsellors still remain few in number,” Mr. Bornare said.
The course, held by the vocational guidance department of the Maharashtra State Certificate of Education and Research Training (MSCERT), now known as the Pradeshik Vidya Pratishad, is designed to train teachers in giving career counselling to Class IX and Class X students, to enable them to take decisions about their professional future according to their aptitudes and interests. It also gives the chance for teachers to provide individualised guidance to students, as well as to those who are academically weak.
The date for the course has not been fixed yet, according to officials. Subhash Ambhore, a history teacher at Sandesh Vidyalaya in Vikhroli, said, “It is important for teachers to take this course to be aware of students’ needs and to stay relevant. However, by locating it in Bhiwandi, officials have made it difficult for us, as we also have to attend to our duties in the city, including exam marking and writing up year-end reports.”
Vidya Virkar, the deputy director of the Institute of Vocational Guidance and Selection, Mumbai, the government body which is organises the course, said, “The reason we are holding the course at Bhiwandi this year is because many teachers in Bhiwandi and Thane have a poorer access to training, and students in those areas also deserve the benefits of counselling services.”
He said, “We are responsible for the State-wide training of teachers, and many regions remain under serviced. For this reason, we held the course in Panvel in 2015, so that teachers who live in Kalyan, Thane and Dombivli could attend. If teachers in Mumbai find Bhiwandi inconvenient, we can hold another session in Mumbai, perhaps over Diwali.”
