In-school Training for 15 program schools in Baitadi

December 2016 | Baitadi

In-school training is the second stage of OLE Nepal’s three-stage training program designed to prepare teachers to develop the skills needed to integrate technology and digital learning materials in their daily classroom plans. From a trainer’s perspective, the in-school training is the most important and interesting part of the program. By the time our training team heads out to each school for the in-school training, all teachers will have practiced and prepared their integrated lesson plans and conducted quite a number of laptop integrated classes. The trainers observe at least 1 class of all the teachers who attended the initial training. The trainers review the implementation practices of the teachers in the laptop integrated teaching methodologies.

The teachers have the opportunity to get feedback from the trainers on the work. One of the reasons we allow teachers to practice teaching using laptops before in-school training, is to help them build a comfort level with the E-Paati and also personalise the teaching methodology. In-school training is also the time when our team gets to observe the students using the laptops. The results are anything but ordinary. Most of the students are already mastering the devices and some even know what comes next. When we asked if the students has used laptops outside of schools before the laptops program, the teachers tell us that this is the first time that they have used electronic devices.

Between December 5 and 25, 2016, OLE Nepal’s trainers visited all of the 15 schools in Baitadi to conduct in-school training, after informing the Baitadi District Education Office in Gothalapani. The training was completed by 2 teams, with one team visiting 9 schools and the other team visiting 6. Altogether 67 teachers ( 39 females and 28 male) who were the part of basic training conducted in September, were required to demonstrate the E-Paati integrated lesson delivery in the classroom while trainers from OLE Nepal observed the classes and provided feedback and suggestions at the end of each class. Most of the teachers were integrating E-Paati into their classroom successfully.

During the visit, the team also checked the status of E-Paati, E-Pustakalaya server, school network and provided technical support depending upon the need of school. After the training, the team also conducted community interaction meetings in all the schools. Members of the  School Management Committee (SMC), Parent Teacher Association (PTA), and students’ parents participated in the meetings. The team discussed the roles and responsibilities of the community members  for the effective implementation of the program. The team found that all of the schools had created maintenance fund and started to increase the fund for the upkeep of equipments at the school.

You can also read about Indra Pokharel, a school teacher at Saraswati Primary School in Baitadi, in a blogpost by Kalpana Rimal and Anjana Shrestha. Also, check out our Photo Story — School life in Baitadi, by Shishir Pandey and Anjana Shrestha