Introduction

About Samskrit Promotion Foundation

The Samskrit Promotion Foundation [SPF] has been conceived (a) to accelerate the renewed interest of India and the world in Samskrit as a tool to open the treasures of ancient knowledge and to handle the modern technology and (b) to create and support a movement to Samskritise India again and, through Sanskrit, revitalize and strengthen the Indian Civilization.
      SPF has been working in association with voluntary organizations who are working in the field, Samskrit Universities, Academies, Foundations, Research Institutes, Central and State Government bodies and other likeminded organizations and individuals. The idea is to involve and actively engage each and every Samskrit loving person and institution in Samskrit Promotion Activities throughout the country and to facilitate a movement.
      Based on the experience of Samskrit scholars and activists who have been tirelessly working for the popularization of Samskrit for the last few decades SPF has drawn an elaborate action plan in the field of teaching and learning and has identified and prioritized some of the important steps to be taken.

About SCERT- Delhi

      State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Delhi is an autonomous body of the Government of NCT of Delhi established in 1988. It is a nodal agency recognized by the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) for admission, curriculum construction, course conduct, guidance, examination and certification of pre-service training programme in the area pre-primary and elementary education viz Two year Diploma for – Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed.) and Diploma in Pre-School Education(DPSE).

      State Council of Educational Research and Training has made significant contribution in the area of school education in general and teacher education, in particular. It works in the area of pre-service and in-service training of teachers and other stake holders. It has been providing academic support to Department of Education, Government of National Capital Territory Delhi in formulation of policies and planning procedures. Its other functions are development of curricular material of various types viz. Text Books, Supplementary material, Teachers’ Hand Books, Manuals and Modules etc. Study Material is also developed in Audio-Visual mode. Many research projects have been undertaken by the SCERT and District Institutes of Education and Trainings faculty.

1 Training Requirements of SCERT-Delhi

SCERT has training requirement for

1. 4000 Sanskrit Teachers on all Language Skills &
2. Minimum 50 selected teachers, who have good Sanskrit Linguistic Skills, to be trained as Master Trainers(MT). These MTs will in turn provide training to the teachers in a cascade mode.

2 NEP 2020 on Teacher Training aspects

National Education Policy 2020 clearly enumerates the requirement, factors & process on various facets of Teacher Training.
Key references are captured below with Chapter and Paragraph number.

Extracts from NEP2020:

• 5.1. Teachers truly shape the future of our children - and, therefore, the future of our nation. It is because of this noblest role that the teacher in India was the most respected member of society. Only the very best and most learned became teachers. Society gave teachers, or gurus, what they needed in order to pass on their knowledge, skills, and ethics optimally to students. Today, however, the status of the teacher has undoubtedly and unfortunately come down. The quality of teacher education, recruitment, deployment, service conditions, and empowerment of teachers is not where it should be, and consequently the quality and motivation of teachers does not reach the standards where it could be. The high respect for teachers and the high status of the teaching profession must be revived and restored for the very best to be inspired to enter the profession, for teachers to be well-motivated and empowered to innovate, and for education to therefore reach the heights and levels that are truly required to ensure the best possible future for our children and our nation.
• 5.3. …… to ensure that teachers can build relationships with and become invested in their communities so that students have continuity in their role models and educational environments. Transfers will occur in very special circumstances ………………………
• 5.4. Teacher Eligibility Tests (TETs) will be strengthened to better test material correlated to being outstanding teachers, both in terms of content and pedagogy. The TETs will also be extended to cover teachers across all stages (Foundational, Preparatory, Middle and Secondary) of school education. ……….
• 5.6. …… schools/school complexes will be encouraged and indeed will be supported with suitable resources to hire local eminent persons or experts as ‘specialized instructors’ in various subjects…
• 5.7. A technology-based comprehensive teacher-requirement planning and predictive forecasting exercise will be conducted across India and in each State to assess expected teacher and subject vacancies over the next two decades. All the above-described initiatives in recruitment and deployment will be scaled as needed over time, with the aim to fill all vacancies with outstanding and qualified teachers, including outstanding local teachers, with suitable quality incentives given for career management and progression as described below. Teacher education programs and offerings will also align with the teacher and subject vacancies thus projected.
  Service environment and culture
• 5.13. ….. positive learning environments, the role expectations of principals and teachers will explicitly include developing a caring and inclusive culture at their schools…
• 5.14. Teachers will be given more autonomy in choosing aspects of pedagogy, so that they may teach in the manner that they find most effective for the students in their classrooms and communities. …….
  Continuous Professional Development (CPD)
• 5.15. Teachers will be given constant opportunities for self-improvement and to learn the latest innovations and advances in their profession. ……. Developmental opportunities will be offered in multiple modes, including in the form of local, regional, State, National, and international teaching and subject workshops as well as online teacher development modules, …….. Each teacher will be expected to participate in at least, say, 50 hours of CPD opportunities every year for their own professional development… CPD opportunities will, in particular, systematically cover the latest pedagogies regarding foundational literacy and numeracy, formative and adaptive assessment of learning outcomes, individualized and competency-based learning, and related pedagogies, such as experiential learning, artsintegrated, sports-integrated, and storytelling-based approaches, etc.
• 5.16. …… 50 hours of CPD modules per year, covering leadership and management, as well as content and pedagogy for the teaching and pedagogy-leadership aspects of their jobs, with a focus on preparing and implementing pedagogical plans based on competency- and outcome-based education.
  Career management and progression
  Professional standards for teachers
• 5.20. A common guiding set of National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST) will be developed by 2022…
  Special educators
• 5.21. …. additional special educators for certain areas of school education. Approach to teacher education
• 5.22. Recognizing that the best teachers will require training in high-quality content as well as pedagogy, teacher education will gradually be moved by 2030 into multidisciplinary colleges and universities.

15. Teacher Education

• 15.1. Teacher education is truly vital in creating a team of school teachers that will shape the next generation. Teacher preparation is an activity that requires multidisciplinary perspectives and knowledge, the formation of dispositions and values, and the development of practice under the best mentors. Teachers must be grounded in Indian values, languages, knowledge, ethos, and traditions, while also being well-versed in the latest advances in education and pedagogy.
• 15.4. Because teacher education requires multidisciplinary inputs, and education in highquality content as well as pedagogy…
• 15.10. In-service continuous professional development for college and university teachers will continue through the existing institutional arrangements and ongoing initiatives; these will be strengthened and substantially expanded to meet the needs of enriched teaching-learning processes for quality education. The use of technology platforms such as SWAYAM/DIKSHA for online training of teachers will be encouraged, so that standardized training programs can be administered to large numbers of teachers within short spans of time.
• 15.11. A National Mission for Mentoring shall be funded and established, with a large pool of outstanding senior/retired faculty – including those with the ability to teach in Indian languages …….

3 Name of the Programme

      This programme under “Continuous Professional Development Program for Sanskrit Teachers on Language skills and Teaching Skills through SCERT Delhi”.
Target Groups:
      These courses being directed at improving the Language & Teaching Skills of teachers, is equally applicable for all Teachers teaching across Foundation, Preparatory, Middle & Secondary stages (Pre-Preliminary, Preliminary, Elementary, Secondary & Higher Secondary Teachers)

4 Annual Training Plan & components

Brief Introduction

      As per the NEP2020, it is essential to offer 50 hours of CPD for teachers. This program meets the requirements and objectives of the same.

      When the language to be taught is neither the regional language nor the mother tongue, it throws a challenge to the teacher. The teacher has to create an environment in the classroom which will facilitate natural acquisition of the language. For that the teacher must be proficient in all four basic language skills via (Listening, Speaking (&Pronunciation), Reading & Writing). Hence, Sanskrit Teachers need training on all these four language skills.

It is planned to cover the following
a. First 3 skills via Listening, Speaking& Reading [LSR];
b. Applied Grammar for writing skills
c. Teaching skills & Pedagogy

Through multiple batches of fifty teachers SPF shall conduct training for teachers till Feb 2023. Offline (Face to face training programs will be arranged at SCERT identified centres. SPF will depute two Training Resources for each Centre. Training will be provided for 10 days (2 weeks- Monday to Friday). Proposed timing is 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM; 6 hours per day with a total break of 60 minutes for lunch and tea). Holidays will be adjusted with either preceding and/or succeeding Saturdays or Sundays.

       Master Trainers [MT] will be provided training on philosophy, pedagogy, language games, and technology. These topics are covered in detail in the “Handbook for Teachers”. One batch of MT will be trained.

Justification:

SPF course content has been prepared based on the experience of 7 years in Teacher Training and updated based on the feedback from the users (students, parents, other learners & teachers). These Tutorials and other material provided to Teachers effectively address the challenges faced by the learners and empower them to use these materials readily available.

Teacher Training course content in the form of book & Videos are already available on the e-learning platform. (www.adhyapanam.in) SPF has trained staffs who have prepared these content. They also have trained teachers from Kendriya Vidyalaya School, DAV, DPS etc., Many experts in the field of education are associated with SPF. (Professors & Professionals)

As SPF has a complete bouquet of programs required for Sanskrit Teachers based on NEP2020 guidelines and expert trainers, SPF is fully equipped to offer such a program. If this program is taken up by SCERT-Delhi, it might be first one across the country to offer a comprehensive state-wide program, to every teacher.

Course Structure :
1. Listening Speaking & Reading Skill, Applied Grammar & Pedagogy

      Duration: 10 Days @ 5-6 hours pre day
Fresh batch will start on first and third Monday of each month (from June 2022 to Feb 2023)
a. First 3 skills via Listening, Speaking& Reading [LSR];
b. Applied Grammar for writing skills
c. Teaching skills & Pedagogy
Classes will be for 6 hours per day for 2 weeks (Monday to Friday). Any holiday will be covered by preceding or succeeding Saturday or Sunday. Classes can be conducted in 3 locations in parallel. Each location will be provided 2 resource persons; one each expert on pedagogy and grammar.
Identification of Training centres will be done by SCERT Delhi. Minimum required facilities will be Desktop or Laptop, Projector suitable for the batch of 50, good classroom facility, Podium with Public Address System and Internet facility.

SPF being the knowledge partner for this training program will be given freedom of choice of resource panel for training purpose. SCERT Delhi, if chooses to add members are to be considered in addition and it is not included in this proposal.

There will be pre and post-training assessment. It is planned to undertake ‘Action Research’ during the entire training program.

2. Master Trainer Program

        Duration : 5 days / residential or non-residential
      This training program can be conducted in either residential or nonresidential form for 5 days (10 hours per day). One batch with 50 participants is being considered.
      SPF is ready to offer first MT program at its Training Centre at Soham Ashram at Vrindavan in the month of June 2022.

Assessment –

Modes of Assessment will include the following;
1. A feedback form (This will be collected from each participant through online form. Summary of these feedbacks will be shared)
2. Results and analysis of Pre & post-assessment of training.
3. Conversations , discussions, classroom observations
4. Feedback from the students can also form part of the assessment model.

Tentative Program Schedule

A tentative Program schedule is appended below

5 Time Line (Tentative for one year

Activity	Time
Preparatory activities	1 months
6 batches per month	June 2022 onwards
Action Research related work	Project Tenure
Master Trainer	One Time / June 2022

Note: There might be overlap between various activities during execution

6 Action Research

An exercise of this order is a fit case of research. So SPF would like to undertake “Action Research” for this project to evaluate the effectiveness of the Programs.
1. Samskrit not taught through Samskrit in classrooms
2. This denies students a spontaneous Samskrit learning environment from the classroom

Action Research:

It is suggested to involve “Master Trainers” (MT) in Data Collection and Analysis. Data will be collected prior to training program, during the course and end of the training program. Involving MT will have two fold impacts. MT will know the ground reality and might come-up with multiple localized solutions (within the community, by the community). This will improve the partnership mode of problem resolution.