PUNE: The education department’s latest circular, notifying that teachers of Classes I and VIII will receive virtual training on the new syllabus — via direct-to-home (DTH) television and mobile applications — has left the teachers concerned.Logistical issues like lack of consistent power supply and poor connectivity apart, the teachers are also worried about the truncated training schedule and the lack of on-the-spot doubt-redressal mechanism. mathematics teacher pointed out that the training time for each subject has been reduced to just an hour. “How is it possible to cover the entire syllabus in 1 hour? Earlier, two-day training sessions were held. Then it became a day-long affair. It included expert lectures as well as question-answer sessions and practicals. But now it is down to 1 hour. This looks like a sham,” he said.Many educationists share the teachers’ concerns.“Virtual can be one of the training modes, but not the only one. Interaction is a very important component of training. While for Class 1 teachers, the virtual method is okay, the same is not adequate for Class VIII teachers. This is because of the increase in the difficulty level of the subjects. If teachers themselves are not clear, the quality of teaching will drop,” said Vasant Kalpande, an educationist and former director of education.There is also no mention of how the teachers can get their doubts cleared. The circular only states that all teachers must give feedback on a Google form after the training on www.research.net/r/VT182018. The link will be open only for a particular duration.Education officials, however, have called this an innovative model of training. If successful, this model will be replicated for others.Sunil Magar, the SCERT director, said, “We are trying this for the first time. An expert cannot physically reach every teacher. However, with the virtual mode, every teacher can learn from experts and at a much-reduced cost.”

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