30,000 teachers to be trained by British Council to improve quality of education in state-run schools

Around 30,000 teachers of staterun schools of Maharashtra will be trained in terms of English language and communication skills by the British Council. The British Council signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of Maharashtra to strengthen educational and cultural cooperation with the Tata Trust on Wednesday.

These teachers will now be trained in terms of English speaking, oratory, vocabulary and communication skills pertaining to English language. The council has been productive in training over 1,00,000 teachers which cater to over five million students through this training programme. The training aims to improve quality of teaching in terms of imparting knowledge to students, explaining various concepts and understanding basic theories through English language.

The training programme will be a combination of a two-way method where teachers will be trained by expert trainers and also learn through activity based groups. Alan Gemmell, Director of British Council of India told The Free Press Journal, "We will go to respective schools and train the teachers there. While, we will also conduct sessions for teachers where they learn through activity based groups and this might involve social media like WhatsApp groups. Our aim is to bring about a cultural exchange through skill development and communication."

Last year, there have been 12 partnerships between higher education institutions in Maharashtra with the United Kingdom (UK) under the bilateral UK India Education and Research Initiative. Gemmell added, “We want to contribute in India's plan of Skill India and Make in India by strengthening the education sectors. Teachers are in need of training as communication is a key factor. We have been focussing on various initiatives in field of higher education and Maharashtra is an important state for us as it is our major area of work.”

While, the government is hoping for many new programmes for enhancing the education sector. Sumit Mullick, Chief Secretary of Government of Maharashtra, said, “The Government of Maharashtra and the British Council have co-operated together very successfully over recent years, as witnessed by programmes to develop English language teaching and learning, nascent programmes to build capacity in our universities and exciting programmes in the arts, such as the Museum of the Moon at the Gateway of India.”