Sethu Child Development Centre report update on the Preschool Teachers' Training programme Gnyandeep, which means Lamp of Knowledge.

Unfortunately, due to a delay in the processing of our prior permission (for receiving foreign funding), we were unable to use the grant from the Erach and Roshan Sadri Foundation for the training programme 2006 - 2007. We hence decided to charge a nominal fee as we strongly felt that a fee ensures commitment on the part of the trainees. Further, we needed to cover the cost of running a programme such as this in terms of resource persons' fees, training materials, stationery and recommended reading.

As a Child Development Centre, we see a lot of children with learning problems and special needs. We also strongly feel that every child has a right to learn in regular schools. A lot of these children had problems right from preschool but were not identified by their teachers due to a lack of awareness of the kinds of difficulties that children face. We thus decided to target working preschool teachers to enable immediate application of the practical knowledge and skills gained during the training in their classrooms. Since we were targeting working teachers and we also have clinical service days at the center, it was decided to run the classes thrice weekly as a part time training course over a period of one year.

We initially began with a batch of 15 teachers from nine preschools around Goa. While we had aimed to enroll 20 teachers from different preschools, it was a difficult goal to achieve due to the extended time period of the course (which we believe is necessary to bring about a positive change in teaching practices) and the fact that our training was not recognized by the government. During the course of the training two teachers dropped out due to unavoidable circumstances and three teachers were barred from attending the course due extended absences from the classes. Eventually we had 10 preschool teachers complete the training course in March 2007.

We have already opened admissions for the new batch of 2007 - 2008, which begins in June 2007, and have registered 7 teachers so far. We aim to enroll 20 teachers through advertisements in the local media, by word-of-mouth, via email to all preschools and publicity on our website. Through our experience organizing the first batch of training, we have identified certain areas for improvement such as an objective-type evaluation at the end of the course to ensure that teachers read all the recommended reading material and a minimum attendance of 80% to obtain a certificate at the end of the course. We also realised the necessity of training equipment such as a TV, DVD player and LCD projector for presentations. The ESRF grant will be used to acquire training equipment and will help cover the cost of resource persons' fees, training materials and stationery items.

I will continue to keep you informed of the developments that occur as we reach closer to our date of commencement of Gnyandeep 2007 – 2008.

Anjali Barretto
Speech-Language Therapist
Coordinator - Gnyandeep

Latest report 2008