Under DPEP, new text-books with revised curriculum have also been developed for Std. II. These new text-books provide activity-based teaching and encourage self-learning in the children. They have been designed with a view to stimulate their imagination, curiosity and interest so as to develop their creativity.

Teacher’s Training

Over 3562 newly appointed teachers (Vidya Sahyaks) were trained for seven days at CRC level. The Resource Persons (RPs) and Master Trainers were trained by DIET. The training module was also prepared by DIET. The module has been provided to the newly appointed teachers to help them understand their role and act effectively.

The process of the appointment of 2714 new teachers(Vidya Sahayaks) is on the hand. The new teachers will be in position by Dec.'99. It has been planned to impart the training for the new teachers at the time of their joining itself. Thus, the training of all the new teachers i.e 6276 will be completed.

More than 7000 teachers of Std.I have been trained in the three DPEP districts. After try- out in the selected blocks, the revised text-books, developed under DPEP for Std.I, were introduced in all the schools of the DPEP districts. The teachers are trained at the CRC level.

Under DPEP, new text-books have been developed for Std. 1 with revised curriculum. In the academic year 1998-99, these new text-books were tried out in 400 schools in Banaskantha, Panchmahal and Dangs districts. Taking into account the tremendous response and favourable feedback received from academicians, primary teachers and parents, these new text-books for Std.1 have been introduced in all the schools of Banaskantha, Panchmahals and Dangs in the current academic year.

A three-day training programme was conducted from May 22-25,’99 at Saputara, Dist. Dangs, for the Resource Persons to orient them about the new text-books. In this workshop, 15 RPs from Banaskantha, 15 RPs from Panchmahal and 5 RPs from Dangs were trained. The RPs will now train Master Trainers in their respective districts who will subsequently train the primary teachers, on the new text-books, at the cluster level.

During the workshop at Saputara, the RPs were trained by the writers of the new text-books.

•Training of Teachers for New Text-Books of Std.II

A five day Training Workshop was organised for teachers of the project districts from 7-11 June,’99, at Ambaji, dist. Banaskantha, on how to impart education using the new text-books for Std. II. The aspects of TLM and methods to be used for teaching were discussed in detail, with the focus on activity based, joyful learning. The training was conducted by the writers(Key resourse persons) of the new textbooks.

The new textbooks for Std: II are being tried out in the same schools of the selected blocks where the new textbooks for standard:1 was tried out last year. In total 451 teachers of Std:II of these schools have been trained on new textbooks of Std:II.

In conclusion it may be said that the process of revising the textbook has followed an elaborate system of consultations, workshops and trials. Such an approach has managed to involve people from diverse backgrounds in the task of textbook revision. Particularly noteworthy is the participation of outstanding teachers in the writing of the textbooks. These teachers have been selected carefully on the basis of their reputation and a series of rigorous test and interviews. The transparency of this selection procedure has added to the credibility of the revision exercise. In future exercises too, such rigorous selection perhaps with the involvement of some independent outside agency will ensure that the best available talent works on the important task of textbook writing. A second noteworthy feature is the attention paid to gender sensitivity of the material presented in the textbooks during the field study this aspect was checekd, and it was noted that most teachers found the gender sensitivity of the material to be high.

Grade Subject Development Tryout Introduction in DPEP districts

I 1.EVS cum Completed Completed 1999-2000

Language 20 Schools of Six

2. Maths Districts (Non- DPEP)

II 1.EVS cum Completed June 1999 2000-2001

Language Ongoing

2. Maths

Preparation of Work- book in English subject and Master Trainers for Std.V is, currently, under way.

Teaching & Learning Materials(TLM)

To supplement teachers training on preparations and use of TLM,a teleconfrence was organised on Oct.6,'99, at ISRO Ahmedabad. How to prepare ' No Cost ' and ' Low Cost ' Teaching/Learning materail? was the key issue. Hon'ble Minister of Education of the Govt. of Gujarat Smt. Anandiben Patel graced the ocassion.

The panel constituted of OIC(TT), the Finance and Accounts Advisor, both from the SPO, OICs(TT) from all the three districts,and BRC and CRC Co-ordinators. After being explained the importance and usefulness of TLM in class-room transactions, the Hon'ble minister took keen interest in the discussion.

A total of around 1500 teachers, head teachers, BRC, Additional BRC, and CRC Co-ordinators participated in this teleconference. It is important to note that, even CRC Co-ordinators and noted teachers of TLM, form non-DPEP districts, also participated. They posed several probing questions and clarifications to the panel which were being answered .

By supplementing and complementing the ongoing teachers training programs on TLM, the teleconference on TLM has more or less clarified the nuances of TLM perparations and its use.

TLM Workshops are sheduled to be held during Nov-Dec'99 in all three DPEP districts to train the teachers on how to prepare TLM and put them intoeffective use.

Although DPEP is successful in improving enrollment in all the three districts, not as much success has been attained in retention and quality improvement. Hence, special efforts are being made to find out the grey areas and take effective measures.

A series of One-Day Workshops were organised during Sept.-Nov.,'99 in all the three districts to find out reasons behind poor retentions and quality education. All BRC, Additional BRC and CRC Co-ordinators participated in these workshops. Experiences of the participants were shared. And finally strategies and future course of actions were chalked out to be implemented by the BRCCs and CRCCs.

To supplement teachers training on

preparations and use of TLM,a teleconfrence was organised on Oct.6,'99, at ISRO Ahmedabad. How to prepare ' No Cost ' and ' Low Cost ' Teaching/Learning materail? was the key issue. Hon'ble Minister of Education of the Govt. of Gujarat Smt. Anandiben Patel graced the ocassion.

The panel constituted of OIC(TT), the Finance and Accounts Advisor, both from the SPO, OICs(TT) from all the three districts,and BRC and CRC Co-ordinators. After being explained the importance and usefulness of TLM in class-room transactions, the Hon'ble minister took keen interest in the discussion.

A total of around 1500 teachers, head teachers, BRC, Additional BRC, and CRC Co-ordinators participated in this teleconference. It is important to note that, even CRC Co-ordinators and noted teachers of TLM, form non-DPEP districts, also participated. They posed several probing questions and clarifications to the panel which were being answered .

By supplementing and complementing the ongoing teachers training programs on TLM, the teleconference on TLM has more or less clarified the nuances of TLM perparations and its use.

The Multigrade Pilot Project is being implemented in 50 selected schools in Dist. Banaskantha, since last year. As the teachers facing multigrade situation have to teach more than one class simultaneously, they need to develop special skills to cope up with it. They require to be oriented about how to manage teaching of different subjects, keeping in view the MLL, to different classes at the same time.

A workshop was organised from July 18-21, '99 at Din Dayal Institute, Gandhinagar, to chalk out the Annual Action Plan for the Multigrade Pilot Project and Class-room Teaching, which was attended by the members of core teams for the State and District. Shri Madanlal Khandelwal from Digantar, the NGO from Rajasthan, and Shri Subir Shukla from New Delhi. During the workshop, modalities of the Multigrade Pilot Scheme (July 99 - June 2000) were worked out.

A two-day workshop for Multigrade Teaching was organised at the BRC Centre, Vav, Dist. Banaskantha on June 7-8,'99, during which the teachers were oriented on the use of TLM and the methods for multigrade situation. They were also taught how they could make their daily, monthly and tri-monthly planning of their academic work.

•Development of Awareness Material for Multigrade Teaching

Development of awareness material on multigrade teaching for teachers, BRC-CRC Co-ordinators was proposed. Development of audio and video cassettes is underway. The context would be demonstration lessons of handling classes, concepts and practice of multigrade teaching etc.

•Infrastructure facility for Multigrade School

A total of 10 multigrade schools were provided with infrastructure facility. An additional class room for each of those schools is under progress.

A training programme for District Level officers, BRC and CRC Co-ordinators was organised at the Din Dayal Institute, Gandhinagar, from April 29-May 3,’99, to orient them on how they could plan their activities for the year 1999-2000, and budget for the same in the AWP & B. The focus of training was on specific planning at the clusters, block and district levels.

During this workshop, activities were planned for the year 1999-2000 at cluster, block and district levels, as per the AWP & B. The participants were oriented on how to plan and implement various activities so as to realize the DPEP goals. The motive of this orientation program was to develop capacities of the personnel in their respective functional areas, so that they could contribute to speedy implementation of the programme and realization of the ultimate goals.

In-service Teahcer’s Training is one of the focus areas for this year. Since little time is available to the BRC and CRC for imparting training to the teachers, the training of the in-service training of the teachers have been affected. Hence, the strategies for In-service Teachers Training from June 1999. As per the new strategy-

The overall position of the teachers in the three project districts is as under:

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Banaskantha 9176 7938 1467

Panchmahal 13108 1135 1751

Dangs 1191 922 173