Taking a step towards the successful implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) in terms of promotion of regional languages in schools, the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) has collaborated with the National Testing Service-India under the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru, to train language teachers of Navodaya Vidyalayas in the country.
A six-day online capacity-building programme for each language is planned. NVS, in collaboration with NTS-I, CIIL, has proposed to run the programme for 14 languages. The capacity-building programmes for four languages — Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, and Telugu — will be conducted in January and February 2021.
C.G. Venkatesha Murthy, director, CIIL, Mysuru, said CIIL was ready to help, collaborate, guide, and provide academic resources and training to NVS or any other organisation on any front for matters pertaining to Indian languages.
He further added in a release that CIIL was fully equipped to conduct training and the institute was committed to the protection, preservation, and promotion of all Indian languages, irrespective of their socio-linguistic status.
Vinayak Garg, commissioner, NVS, said language teachers would prove to be the backbone for the successful implementation of NEP-2020. He said such programmes, along with their training modules, would be made available through government portals such as Diksha, Swayam, and NIOS for the larger benefit of the teaching community and the public.
Mr. Garg stated that students must be able to hone L-S-R-W (Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing), the four skills of language learning, in their mother tongue and regional languages as native languages are very important for the better cognitive development of an individual. He also added that teaching regional languages to non-native speakers was one of the very important pillars of “Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat” as it would help strengthen the unity and integrity of a country like India, which has among of the highest linguistic diversity in the world.
P.R. Dharmesh Fernandez, head, Centre for Testing and Evaluation, briefed the participants about the activities undertaken by CIIL and its seven regional centres across the country. He also gave a detailed description of CIIL’s major schemes and projects such as NTS-I, NTM, BVP, LDCIL, SPPEL, and Centres for Studies on Classical Languages.
The training
Lectures/sessions in the programmes will be delivered by renowned scholars from across the country. About 350 teachers will be trained with state-of-the-art techniques, tools, and technology in the area of language education, assessment, and evaluation.
Pankaj Dwivedi, officer in-charge of NTS-I, CIIL, is programme coordinator. Gyanendra Kumar and Gopal Krishna, NVS, Deputy Commissioners, and Mohammad Aziz, Navodaya Leadership Institute, Rangareddy are supervising overall logistics of the programmes. Rakesh Cherucode (SRLC, CIIL) and Sujata Bhujang (WRLC, CIIL) are extending their a cademic support. The programmes will be organised under the joint patronage of Director, CIIL Mysuru, and Commissioner, NVS (HQ).
