Singapore-India Teacher Training Project Benefits 60,000 Students and Educators in Bangalore

The collaboration between Singapore and India has helped increase capabilities and capability amongst major faculty educators in Bangalore in the areas of Mathematics and Science.

Bangalore, India,20 June 2023–The five-year Mathematics and Science Curriculum Enhancement Project, a collaboration between the Singapore International Foundation (SIF) and Parikrma Humanity Foundation, had a major affect on schooling in Bangalore.

Led by Singapore International Volunteers (SIVs) from the schooling sector, the challenge aimed to boost the Mathematics and Science curriculum in Bangalore. The SIVstrained about 160 Indian educators by way of workshops, equipping them with new expertise to create extra participating classes for his or her college students.

A core group of 46 Indian educators was chosen as Master Trainers, who subsequently skilled different lecturers in their communities. Collectively, about 58,700 educators and college students in Karnataka benefitted from this collaboration, guaranteeing improved entry to high quality schooling for kids in the group.

Earlier in June, the SIF carried out a challenge analysis to measure and analyse the affect of the challenge. Key findings included:

• Effective implementation of instruments and on a regular basis objects as educating aids:

The educators at the moment are well-versed in utilizing instructional instruments and on a regular basis objects to higher help their college students’ understanding of summary ideas. Examples included utilizing a tangram set to type triangles in arithmetic classes and utilizing actual flowers to introduce plant elements in science classes.

• Greater concentrate on course of expertise

The focus of educating in faculties has shifted to hone how college students arrive at their solutions as an alternative of the memorisation of info. This is supported by classes deliberate primarily based on the 5E Model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend, Evaluate), and complemented by science experiments and outside actions. These approaches engaged college students extra successfully and inspired higher inquisitiveness in them.

• Improved growth of crucial pondering talent

Beyond discovering the precise solutions, college students are guided to discover and analyse completely different options to every downside to develop crucial pondering expertise.

• Enhanced activity-based studying in teams

Where passive studying in silos was the norm beforehand, college students at the moment are engaged by way of studying in teams. Through group discussions, college students apply communication, collaboration and reasoning expertise, and collective decision-making, that are core Twenty first-century competencies.

At the challenge’s closing ceremony on 5 June, Mr. Edgar Pang, Consul-General of the Republic of Singapore in Chennai, mentioned: “This challenge between the SIF and Parikrma Humanity Foundation is a superb instance of how lives could be improved when individuals come collectively and be part of fingers. I look ahead to extra of such collaborations between the peoples of Singapore and India throughout the assorted sectors.”

Ms Shukla Bose, Founder-CEO, Parikrma Humanity Foundation mentioned: “We are happy to have labored with the SIF on this initiative. The training-of-trainers method has ensured that the advantages to our lecturers and college students will lengthen properly past the challenge. The method has definitely moved the needle in elevating educating requirements right here.”
Dr Prem Mario, Principal at Parikrma Junior College mentioned: “We discovered to make use of objects discovered in on a regular basis life as interactive props to facilitate arithmetic classes, alongside different educating methods like mind-mapping and storytelling. After incorporating them in our courses, our college students have been capable of perceive new ideas higher and are extra engaged throughout classes now.”

He added: “The Singapore volunteers have been very heat and approachable each time we met. Despite journey restrictions in the course of the latest pandemic, we saved in contact just about and picked up like outdated mates once we reconnected in particular person.”

SIV workforce chief Ms Peggy Foo, former lecturer at Singapore’s National Institute of Early Childhood Development, mentioned: “It was a humbling expertise and a privilege to share our insights with the lecturers in Bangalore. Their eagerness to be taught has been very inspiring. This challenge has additionally challenged me to consider how we will higher deliver the enjoyment of studying to our college students and encourage them to be extra inquisitive.”

The Mathematics and Science Curriculum Enhancement Project aligns with the Karnataka state authorities’s dedication to the UN Sustainable Development Goal of guaranteeing inclusive and high quality schooling for all, together with growing the availability of certified lecturers by 2030 by way of worldwide cooperation for instructor coaching.

The initiative additionally marks a major milestone for the SIF because it commemorates 28 years of their work in India. Over the years, the SIF has collaborated with varied companions from the federal government, company and non-government sectors, in states like Maharashtra, New Delhi, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Through their endeavours in schooling, healthcare, arts, atmosphere, and livelihood, the SIF fosters connections amongst individuals and communities, facilitating collaborations that result in optimistic change.