The beginning of the new school year is only a few weeks away and Director of the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD), Mohandatt Goolsarran, says curriculum development and continuous teacher education is being addressed. According to him, only the Mathematics curriculum guide for the primary level has been revised and focus continues to be placed on literacy.
“We have August holiday programmes ongoing and they are being monitored,” he said.
Goolsarran added that the literacy initiatives will be advanced come the start of the new school year.
At the secondary level, the NCERD Director said curriculum guides have not been revised, but the Mathematics curriculum has been used to develop a training guide for teachers.
“This will guide teachers in methodology and the training is expected to start in September,” he said.
Goolsarran pointed out that various non-graduate programmes for teachers at the secondary level continue.
He added that at present a train-the-trainers workshop is ongoing for Mathematics and English non-graduate courses.
“This is part of the continuous development for teachers and the credits they receive here will be part of what they need to secure promotions in the future,” Goolsarran said.
The NCERD Director added that in the areas of Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Information Technology, non-graduate courses are ongoing.
He said, “It is an 18-month programme, like our other non-graduate programmes…there has been no graduating batch as yet, but in Physics we have 10 persons, 14 in Chemistry, 20 in Biology and 40 in Information Technology.”
Goolsarran pointed out that come next Monday, a series of other programmes will begin for teachers.
The programmes will not be run simultaneously, and will focus on Guidance and Counselling, Professional Ethics, Continuous Assessment Methodology, Classroom Management and Health and Family Life Education.