Afghan and African teachers being coached by India

Afghan, African teachers take lessons
19 Mar 2009, 0219 hrs IST, Karthika Gopalakrishnan, TNN

CHENNAI: Impressed with the educational system and surprised by the linguistic differences in the city, a foreign delegation of educational policy-makers had a lot to reflect on after their eight-week-long stay here concluded on Friday last week.

"We were struck most by how knowledgeable the university professors are over here. With a master's degree and a Ph D, they are highly qualified when compared to the lecturers back home. Since there is a great shortage of teachers in Afghanistan, one can become a school teacher if they pass class IX and can go on to become university professors if they have a graduate degree," said Torpaikai Ahmed, trainer-academic member, Science Centre, Ministry of Education, Kabul.

Interacting with people from 25 different countries during an advanced certificate course in human resource development conducted by the National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR) at Taramani, Torpikai, 25, was visibly excited about being in India. "I was surprised to find that most people here speak Tamil and not Hindi. I am comfortable with Hindi because we watch the films at home. Two of my brothers who are pursuing their college education on a scholarship over here, in fact, asked me to visit a theatre here. But my room mate would not hear of it since we are not allowed to watch movies in a theatre," she said. Her room-mate Shajan Yesdan Parast, director, Parwan Women's Resource Centre, pointed out that there was a great demand for Indian outfits like sarees in their country. Though both women hail from families whose children are educated and employed, this was not the case in many parts of the country, members of the delegation said.


"I finished school while at a refugee camp in Peshawar, Pakistan. We lived in a very bad condition and so my five sisters were not sent to school. Every religion and culture has some values that are accepted by society. In my community, it is believed that girls should be educated by female teachers and must travel in a protected manner. If we had these facilities in our country, as is the case with Saudi Arabia, I would definitely send my sisters to school," said Muhammad Hussain Ahmadzai, educational member, department of curriculum development, Ministry of Education, Kabul. While members of the Afghan delegation used their experience in India to draw parallels with the education system in their country, those from Africa felt they could use lessons from the workshop to better develop the current framework in their nations.


"Compared to polytechnic institutes here, we realised that the laboratory equipment at our colleges are not as modern. Students back home are, therefore, not in tune with industry standards and need to be trained again when they start work," said Yirenkyiwa Offei-Hesse, principal and examiner, Hannah Girls Vocational Institute, Accra, Ghana.


Nakulang Ceesay, senior college lecturer from Brikama in Gambia, who is involved in curriculum development for primary schools in his country, said the programme at NITTTR had taught him methods that could be adopted to improve the process such as making a concrete scientific evaluation of the whole programme before incorporating changes. Bonile Bonnie Rapoo, head of the department, Francistown College of Education, Botswana, said she had learnt the importance of training officers to improve competencies and leadership skills.


"In most cases, we find that organisations are interested in results but not in who is providing the results. I will apply what I have learnt here to motivate individuals and help them become better at their work," she said.

karthika.gopalakrishnan@timesgroup.com



Source: India Times