primary school teachers the twists and turns of everyday practice

Version 20 Oct 08, edited final
Box 5.3: Aide Memoire: Fifth Joint Review Mission of SSA (July 2007)
Given the SSA goal of significantly improving the quality of learning in the
classroom, the Mission acknowledges that the SSA has set itself along the
following directions:
⇒ Every State needs to develop a long-term training agenda, which gives a
vision and specific directions to annual training programmes.
⇒ Adopt a cafeteria approach where teachers opt for the training they need
rather than attend all training programmes.
⇒ About 3/4 of all primary schools have three or less teachers, and about onethird
of all primary schools have less then 60 students spread over 4-5
classes.
⇒ Training programmes should provide comprehensive guidelines for
teachers on how to maximise learning in multi-Std classrooms.
⇒ Students come from a variety of backgrounds, predominantly socially and
economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Based on local conditions, issues
such as children’s home language and cultural background, and
discrimination of girls, SCs and STs need to be addressed during training.
⇒ Aspects of teacher competence at the upper primary level in subjects such
as English, Mathematics and Science. Teachers should be provided
intensive in-service training to help them acquire these subject matter skills
and knowledge.
⇒ A universal concern of all involved in education is how to improve teacher
performance in the classrooms. This is of particular concern to SSA, as its
main goal is improving children’s learning. Furthermore it has allocated
considerable funds towards building of academic structures like BRCs and
CRCs to provide academic support and guidance to teachers. In-service
training of teachers on a regular basis, and teacher grants, has also become
an institutionalised feature of SSA.
Some Conclusions
Whose need is it anyway?
Teachers need support, academic inputs as well as help to manage their classrooms.
Teachers in West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have to manage huge groups.
There are schools where one teacher has to manage 100 children! Close to 40 per cent
of the primary schools in Rajasthan are managed by a single teacher and 32 per cent
of these schools have less than 50 children across all classes. Single- and two-teacher
schools are by definition multi-grade. Their training and management skill
development needs are different from large five-teacher primary schools. In the
tribal areas of Maharashtra and West Bengal, the children do not understand the
state language as they speak a different one at home. Both states are home to
thousands of new migrants who throng the urban areas in search of work—again the
children of migrant families barely understand the state language. Teachers in
schools that have children from different linguistic backgrounds need specialised
skills.
Thousands of contract teachers are appointed every year: people like Ramesar and
Jhumur. Para-teachers and contract teachers are more likely to work in relatively
poor areas and with a larger proportion of first-generation school goers. They are
also more likely to have children who speak a different language at home. And
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