Page 12 - ELG1911 Nov Issue 467

El•Gazette 467.qxp_El•Gazette 467 23/10/2019 13:10 Page 12

TRAINING NEWS .

India rolls out training for

fifty thousand teachers
Teacher’s Pet

Faced with the decision by President Trump to divert $3.6 billion By Matt Salusubury with expertise in English. This team,
in military funding to pay for his border wall, the Pentagon knowns as state academic resource
announced it would bite the bullet. More than 51,000 teachers in rural persons (SARPs), are based in the
It then promptly pulled money from schools and daycare government schools in India are RAA. They are being put through a
centres for military families. being trained as part of the Tejas month of training in how to support
But the Department of Defense schools have responded to the project, which aims to improve the not only Tejas but also future
raid on their resources by “closing ranks” to shield their English quality of English language teaching education initiatives.
Language Leaners. for 1.5 million students in the north The effectiveness of the project
US military schools worldwide have pushed though the cuts Indian state of Maharashtra. has been carefully evaluated with
in double-quick time. A total of 176 teaching posts have been Speaking at the launch of the methods including classroom
cut and class sizes increased. latest phase of the project, Minister observations. Tejas Stories of Change,
However, in military schools with more than 600 students, the of School Education, Ashish Shelar, a book showcasing some of the
ratio of ELL specialist teachers to students has actually gone said he was, “pleased with the project’s achievements to date. has
down from one in 50 to one in 40 students. positive impact of this unique recently been published.
So, it’s congratulation to the US military schools. Bravo Zulu partnership … in terms of Commenting on classroom
(‘Well Done’), as they say in the US Navy. enhancing teachers’ delivery observation undertaken in 2018,
capacity and improving student Helen Silvester, British Council
PIXABAY learning outcomes.” Director West India said, “Over 75
per cent of observed teachers used
The five-year initiative, which is
aimed mostly at primary-level more English language and more
education, involves the British interactive and learning-centred
Council, the Tata Trusts and the techniques than at the start of the
government of Maharashtra. It is project.”
designed to improve ELT methods An article on teachers being
among teachers across 36 districts in trained by Tejas has appeared in
the state, up from nine in 2016, Horizons magazine, published by
when Tejas was started. Tata Trusts. It included an interview
The project aims to move from with teacher Priyanka Dalvi, who
‘traditional’ models of teacher described herself as having a
training to a more sustainable working knowledge of English,
Pentagon building, Virginia model. though she confessed she didn’t
Within the Tejas project, teachers have yet have the confidence to use
are organised into 750 Teacher it in class. Other teachers training at
Activity Groups (TAGs) that meet the government school reported
both face-to-face and virtually. they now have an “English day” one
Naughty Corner
They are supported by 250 TAG day a week where they speak only
coordinators, recruited and trained English in class.
by the Regional Academic Tata Trusts – a foundation of the
“I get money,” sings rapper THMS Authority (RAA), a state-level Mumbai-based conglomerate Tata
Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson. And government body responsible for Group, whose holdings include Tata
50 cents is all the money on English language teaching. Steel and Jaguar Land Rover – dates
the table in the hourly pay rise At the state level, the British back to the “endowment for the
allegedly on offer to English Council has selected and trained a education of Indians,” which was
Language teachers at Dublin team of around 30 master trainers started in 1892.
City University (DCU),
according to TheJournal.ie.
Fifty euro cents is said to ABHIJEET
have been the maximum
offered by employer DCU
Language School (DCULS), a
for-profit company indirectly
owned by the university. Last US rapper, 50 Cent
year DCULS donated its total
profits of €743,000 to the university, according to its accounts.
‘Crack a Bottle,’ as 50 Cent would say.
DCU Teachers claim their pay has fallen from around €30 in
2008 to under €25.
After patiently waiting, they now want €35 an hour, in line
with the rest of higher education.
The OECD found that in 2018, Irish primary teachers earned
€36 per teaching hour, rising to €50 in secondary education.
Teachers now also want their holiday pay paid during their
holiday, instead of rolled up in their monthly pay cheque. Love
it or hate it, that is their right under EU law. Rural primary school in Maharashtra
12 November 2019