Kalaburagi: Teachers in govt primary schools to be trained in communicative skills The State government has decided to facilitate teachers in its primary schools to pursue a one-year diploma in communication in English through distance mode and has expressed its willingness to bear the fees for the course.

The course has been offered by the Regional Institute of English, South India (RIESI), Bengaluru.

The course has been designed for teachers to develop their communication skills in English. The RIESI has submitted a proposal to the government, offering the course to teachers in government primary schools, so that they can teach English language effectively to students.

The RIESI believes that quality improvement in teaching can be achieved only through teacher empowerment, which includes acquiring necessary skills and strategies required for effective transaction of the content and also developing one’s ability to communicate meaningfully and effectively.

The course is suggested for teachers at the primary level to equip them with all skills and sub-skills required for effective communication in the classroom.

The Commissioner of Public Instruction (CPI) has written to all the deputy directors of public instruction (DDPIs) to get the application forms from the interested government primary school teachers below the age of 48 years to opt for the course for the academic year 2015-16.

He has stated that the government is ready to bear the fees for the course - Rs 2,500 per teacher.

The block education officers (BEOs) have been asked to get the application forms from the interested teachers and submit the same to the DDPI concerned before February 20. The DDPIs, in turn, have to send the list of teachers desiring to pursue the course to the CPI’s office before March 31.

Fluency, accuracy

The eligibility for the one-year contact course is that the candidate should be an in-service teacher.

The objectives of the course include: Developing communicative ability of the target group in terms of fluency, accuracy and appropriacy; developing the skill for effective management of both spoken and written modes of discourse; facilitating effective classroom transaction of the prescribed content and creating awareness on the trends in English language teaching; and providing hands-on experience.

To realise these objectives, the Regional Institute of English, South India, has designed a need-based syllabus.

The course includes fluency, accuracy, discourse management, English language pedagogy and teaching practice. During the course, a teacher will have to attend contact programme for 20 days.

The first contact programme will be for two days only and the final contact programme, including the examination, will last 18 days.

RIESI is a premier institute in the cause of English language education and has been involved in training English language teachers at the primary and secondary levels in its member states - Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu.