In order to address the challenges faced by teachers in rural schools, CSSE (Conference Secretariat for School Education) came up with a new initiative, called TEEP (Teacher Effectiveness Enhancement Program).
These teachers play a crucial role in shaping the future of rural communities by providing education to children who may otherwise have limited access to quality schooling. However, they encounter numerous difficulties that hinder their ability to deliver effective education and lead fulfilling professional lives.
Some of the challenges they face are inadequate infrastructure, lack of professional training opportunities, shortage of qualified teachers, socio-economic problems, and logistical difficulties. Teachers of rural Jesuit schools face the same problems.
Keeping this mind, CSSE felt the need of positive interventions in the life and mission of rural school teachers. By investing in infrastructure, attracting qualified teachers, training the teachers to enhance their competency levels, promoting community engagement through networking and collaboration, and leveraging technology, it is possible to empower rural school teachers to deliver effective education and positively impact the lives of their students.
The Teacher Effectiveness Enhancement Program (TEEP) was specially designed as a Training of Trainers (ToT) program for a group of selected teachers from rural Jesuit schools.
TEEP was conducted in six different places – Trivandrum, Patna, Ranchi, Matigarha, Hazaribagh and Pune under the four zones (South, North, West and Central). TEEP was organized by the CSSE in collaboration with PORTICUS from July – September, 2023 with an objective to reach out to the teachers of rural Jesuit schools with a unique professional development module to facilitate personal transformation and renewal. Around 280 teachers took part in TEEP.
The main objectives were: to familiarize with the Ignatian legacy and Jesuit education – to improve the quality of education in rural schools – to facilitate and promote inspiring teachers – to develop lay collaboration and partnership in mission -to familiarize and implement the recommendations of NEP 2020 – to sensitize all stakeholders about the Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs) – to promote human excellence rather than academic excellence for a hope-filled future.
The sessions were ably conducted with the help of PPTs by competent resource persons both Jesuits and non- Jesuits. During the sessions, enough time was given to the participants for questions and clarifications. The two and half day program was designed such a way that the participants could easily assimilate the concepts presented to them through introspection, group activities and reflective sessions.
A resource booklet in both English and Hindi was prepared by Fr. Norbert Menezes, SJ (PAT) for the training. Each participant was given a booklet at the start of the training program. The participants were also given all the PPTs used during the programs in order to facilitate their better understanding and implementation plans.
– John Ravi, SJ (DEL)
