Faculty of Education, Manav Rachna University (MRU) is organizing a two-day Refresher & Empowerment Program (June 26 – June 27) for School Learning Enhancement Programme Officers (SLO), Faridabad in association with Department of Education, Faridabad (Govt. of Haryana). The first day began with pious lamp lighting by the dignitaries and welcome address by Mrs. Sanyogita Sharma, Director MRIS and Faculty of Education, MRU. ‘Seminars are physical reminders for knowledge application’, she said. She emphasized on the growth mindset of the teachers as well as the students that can catalyze the learning process in a classroom and increase healthy participation of the students.

Mr. Khush, Chief Minister’s Good Governance Associate is the initiator of the entire ideation of this workshop who said, “SLOs are the brainchild of Chief Minister and act as a medium between a student, teacher and BEO/DEO”. He added that such programmes help in strengthening classroom practices on school level by encouraging the students to participate. Also present on the occasion was Ms. Anita Sharma, BEO; Mr. Deepender Chauhan, Asst. Project Coordinator; Dr. D C Chaudhary, Advisor, Faridabad Navchetna Trust; and Mr. Gaurav Ambre from MRIS Mohali.

Mrs. Satinder Kaur Verma, District Education Officer motivated the participants to interact during the sessions in order to grasp more. Dr. Sanjay Srivastava, VC, MRU addressed the audience on ‘Positive Thinking and Lifelong Learning’. He said that positive attitude is an ornament of a teacher. He continued, “Teaching beyond the books is necessary as this helps a teacher to meet the expectations of a student”. He stated the four components essential for the overall renewal of a teacher- Physical Renewal, Intellectual Renewal, Social Renewal, and Spiritual Renewal. This renewal will build the faith and confidence of a student in his/her teacher.

A session on ‘Nurturing Creativity’ was conducted by Ms. Rachna, Curriculum and Instructional Designer, Faculty of Education, MRU who put emphasis on creativity in the class. She introduced ‘Creative Teaching Strategy’ to the SLOs through various activities and directed them to energize students through activities before teaching them. Mrs. Sanyogita Sharma talked about Multi-sensory approach in teaching-learning process during her session on ‘Joyful Learning/Whole Brain Learning’.

Dr. Tanu Bhardwaj, Training Specialist and Mr. Ravinder Alhawadi, Deputy Director from State Council of Educational Research and Training, Gurugram were also present. Dr. Bhardwaj said that a teacher should focus on ‘learning level outcome’. She discussed the objective and effective implementation of Learning Enhancement Programmes. ‘Empowered students are the product of an empowered school’, she said. She also discussed the various aspects of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation that was not well received by the schools but was an important element to assess the students on various levels and act towards improvement.

The first day of the workshop energized, refreshed and empowered the participants with knowledge and the ways in which they can work towards the improvement of LEPs in schools.