DHARAMSHALA: The Department of Education, Central Tibetan Administration, today began a four-day certificate course on Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) and Education for Tibetan school teachers at the Administrative Training and Welfare Society hall located within the premises of the Tibetan Reception Center in Khanyara. The chief guest at the inaugural session of the certificate course was Secretary Karma Singey of Department of Education, Central Tibetan Administration.

In his inaugural remarks, Secretary Karma Singey spoke about the importance of developing teaching styles in tune with the technological advancements of the modern era, and explained that this certificate course for teachers is a step towards that direction. He said that this course is a pilot project and if successful, the course will be given to teachers in other parts of the country as well.

Secretary Karma Singey noted that technology such as cell phones has become a common feature of everyday life these days, and as such, he said that we should also incorporate technology as a tool to effectively impart education to students in schools. Such renewed attention on technology to impart education will further develop our education system, he said. He expressed that like most things in life, technology also has its positive and negative impacts, and teachers should weigh in the positive and negative to emphasise the positive aspects of technology for the benefit of the students.

Speaking about the education department’s Smart Class initiative which was begun a year back, he said that the department has invested a lot of resources in the initiative and urged the teachers to continue implementing the initiative and renew the licenses if the licenses have expired.

He also spoke about the importance of advancing the quality of Tibetan education in schools. He expressed the department of education’s deep commitment to develop Tibetan education through whatever means necessary. He said that Tibetan education has seen massive development over the years however he admitted that it still remains unsatisfactory in fields such as Mathematics and Science. He said that subjects like mathematics and science are the foundation that will determine the success in other high level fields such as physics, chemistry, etc. He further talked about strengthening Tibetan student’s proficiency in languages particularly the Tibetan and English languages.

Mr Tenzin Dorjee, head of education department’s academic section, delivered the introductory remarks of the certificate course. In his introductory remarks, he said that this certificate course is in line with innovation, one of the four main objectives of Basic Education Policy of the Central Tibetan Administration. He explained that computer education for school teachers is a need of the hour to promote the culture of using technology in the classroom to impart education.

He said that the proposal to initiate this pilot project came about following an in-depth assessment conducted by the education department last year. He said the assessment found out that, although most teachers have a basic knowledge of computers, there is limited knowledge on how to effectively incorporate computer and internet technologies in the classrooms as a tool to impart education.

The certificate course is being conducted by Ms Amina Charania, an expert from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and her two colleagues. At least 38 teachers from the four major Tibetan school systems in India namely TCV, THF, CTSA and Sambhota Tibetan Schools are taking part in the course in addition to two staff from the education department and Sambhota.

The certificate course will conclude on 5 May 2018.