National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers holistic advancement (NISHTHA) is a national mission launched by The Department of School Education and Literacy to improve the learning outcome at the elementary level. The program comes under the centrally sponsored scheme of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan. NISHTHA aims to enhance the quality of school education via integrated teacher training and equip and motivate teachers to encourage students’ critical thinking and decision-making ability.
The officials are trained in a unified manner at the state, district, block, and cluster level with a prime focus on learner-centered training, school-based assessment, new initiatives in education, school safety and security, personal-social qualities, use of ICT and Artificial Intelligence in education and understanding the requirements of the children via several pieces of training. There are many other activities included in the new initiatives in school education, such as youth club and kitchen garden in a cheerful learning manner.
NISHTHA initiative consists of motivational interactions, educational quizzes and games, activity-based modules, social-emotional learning, continuous feedback mechanism, an online support system, and monitoring etc. This initiative also has a robust management information portal for the delivery of training, monitoring and support.
Coverage of the Programme
This initiative will include around 42 lakh participants, including faculty members of the state council of educational research and training (SCERT), all teachers and heads of schools of all government schools at an elementary level, faculty members of district institutes of education and training, resource persons and officials from block resource centres (BRC) as well as cluster resource centres in all UTs and States.
Implementation
The training programme will be managed by approximately 33120 Key Resource Persons (KRP), and State Resource Persons (SRP) recognised by Union Territories and the States. Around 120 National Resource Persons from the National Council Of Educational Research And Training (NCERT), Kendriya Vidyalaya Samiti (KVS), Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS), NIEPA, non-Government organisations, UNICEF and Central Board Of Secondary Education (CBSE) will be appointed to provide training to the SRPs and KRPs.
Objectives
The objectives of the NISHTHA training programme are as follows:
- To provide training to teachers and principals to cater to the diverse needs of the students in this modern era through multiple pedagogies.
- To improve the students' learning outcomes by providing support to the teachers in multiple modes.
- To motivate teachers to uplift the problem-solving approach, develop critical thinking in students, and handle various situations. This initiative will enable teachers to act as first-level counsellors of students.
Dimensions Covered
NISHTHA training initiative is a skill development programme that includes School management, Teachers, School principals and functionaries of the state, districts, etc. This initiative aims to develop skills in several dimensions such as:
- School safety and security
- Personal social qualities
- Use of information and communication technology in teaching
- Use of Artificial Intelligence for better learning of students
- Competency-based testing and learning
- Inclusive education
- Health and wellbeing
- School leadership qualities
- Environmental concerns and youth club
- School-based assessment
- Learner-centered pedagogy
- Pre-vocational education
- Initiative in school education including the library
The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) will develop the modules and training packages to achieve the objectives of NISHTHA; however, the States and Union territories have the freedom to make some changes to the training modules and use their training persons, keeping the aim of the NISHTHA intact.
Expected Outcomes
The outcomes expected of the NISHTHA program are mentioned below.
- Teachers will move from rote learning to competency-based learning along with activity-based learning.
- The learning outcomes of students will be developed.
- Teachers acting as students' counselors will become alert and responsible for their social, emotional, and psychological needs.
- An inclusive and refined classroom environment will be created.
- A safe and healthy school environment will be established.
- Teachers are tutored to strengthen the social-personal qualities of the students and their holistic development.
- A stress-free school-based assessment will be created, focusing on expanding learning capabilities.
- To increase innovation and creativity among students, teachers will be using art as a teaching method.
- Integrating information and communication technology (ICT) is merged with assessment and teaching-learning.
- School heads and teaching staff will be informed about innovative school learning.
- Transformation of school heads into professional and academic leaders for promoting new initiatives.
Conclusion
Teachers are an integral part of the education system and a pillar of society who play an essential role in the country's development. Hence, it is crucial to provide them with proper training and upgrade their skills. National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers holistic advancement (NISHTHA) will be beneficial in upgrading the skills of teachers.
The initiative will encourage the teachers to develop their skills in the areas such as the use of Artificial Intelligence for better learning of students, competency-based learning and testing, use of information and communication technology in teaching, school safety and security, learner-centered pedagogy, school leadership qualities, and school-based assessment.
This program mainly focuses on the development and design of the training modules so that the efficiency of the teachers can be enhanced.
The training module of NISHTHA will be developed via discussions and suggestions from The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), CBSE, KVS, NVS, and non-government organizations; this will enhance the professional development of the teachers. This program is supported by technology and artificial intelligence so that the entire process can run smoothly and the program's desired outcomes can be achieved.
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