IIM Raipur join hands with State Council Educational Research and Training SCERT (Chhattisgarh), to augment education system in Chhattisgarh

IIM Raipur along with SCERT is conducting a five day residential training programme on School leadership and capacity building to improve school education and its process from October 15 to October 19, 2012 at Hotel Grand Tulip, Raipur.

This is the first step of a year long engagement by IIM Raipur with Chhattisgarh state government to improve the current education system and its process within the state. The participants for the whole training program comprised of principals of higher secondary schools of few blocks out of five districts chosen by State Government board SCERT. The State Council Educational Research and Training (SCERT (Chhattisgarh)) is an R&D institute at the state level by providing guidance, support and assistance to the state education department to improve the quality of primary, upper primary and secondary education and teacher education.

IIM Raipur is providing active consultation to SCERT for streamlining the overall development of secondary education in the state and to advise the Government on policy matters relating to school education. Speaking about the relevance of the programme Prof Ajit Prasad, Chairperson, PGP Program, said that the GSDP of the state is growing at 11% and the development of its human resource is of utmost importance. IIM Raipur has chosen to work at the very grass root level which is the school education. The program is as a part of IIM Raipur’s vision to be a net contributor to the development of the region.

The total participants are 25 in number who are currently undergoing training. This program is in phases and will also involve continuous monitoring and rigorous training at regular intervals.

The program instructors are IIM Faculty members including Prof. Ajit Prasad (Director of this program), Prof. Vinita Sahay (Director of this program), Prof. Sanjeev Parashar, Prof. S.K. Mitra and Prof. Shubhra Hajela.

The training involves training on understanding behavioural issues like developing school leadership, motivation, time management, use of technology, conflict resolution. It would also involve technical training on use of internet, computers and will also involve methods of community mobilization.

Given below are the program in details:

1.     Day 1 Monday October 15

Theme: Institutional Leadership:
It focused on assessing the current economic environment and the challenges posed to the school education system both in terms of knowledge, technology and changing age mix of the catchment population. Focus was to channelize motivation as a tool for community mobilization. There were four sessions taken by Prof Sanjeev Prashar IIM Raipur, Prof Ajit Prasad, IIM Raipur, Prof Shubhra Hajela, IIM Raipur and Prof Vinita Sahay, IIM Raipur.

2.     Day 2 Tuesday October 16

 Theme- Quality in Education
It covered the skill sets required for school principals like time management, efficient use of technology and the art of conflict resolution between the different stake holders. The following sessions were taken by Prof Ajit Prasad, Prof Sanjeev Prashar, Prof Shubhra Hajela and Prof Vinita Sahay, respectively:

·         On managerial skills and requirement for school principals.

·         Time management in school administration

·         Institutional planning, requirements, budgets, quality and vision of an excellent school

·         Conflict resolution: staying on top of conflicts

3.     Day 3 Wednesday October 17

 Theme- Personal Role Modelling:
It consisted of psychometric testing for participants to have a better self understanding and at the same time getting exposed to the basis of transactional analysis. Also, IIM Raipur focused on communication being the key factor in the leadership development, and therefore emphasised more on communication skills, understanding and improving. IIM Raipur also used training techniques to demonstrate at the individual level the different aspects of communication. The following sessions were being taken on day 3 of the training:

·         Understanding self, MBTI, basics of transactional analysis by Prof Shubhra Hajela.

·         Communication and self awareness and communication as a key to leadership by Prof Vinita Sahay which also included detailed training on individual and group communication

4.     Day 4 Thursday October 18

Theme- Managing Schools effectively
The principal as a leader is also required to be a good manager. This programme will focus on managing a school as an organization, setting of mission and vision, and translating them into objectives and goals. The session emphasised on the role of leadership in establishing culture, facilitating institutional planning to achieve targets and setting up of an appropriate Management Information System (MIS) to facilitate decision making. The following sessions will be in line for day 4:

·         Managing a school as an organization, mission, vision and objectives by Prof Ajit Prasad.

·         Understanding leadership, requirements, planning of a leader by Prof Shubhra Hajela

5.     Day 5 Friday October 19:

Theme- Leadership and Change Management:
The role of the principal of a school as a change manager becomes very critical. The sessions will explain the importance to understand the leadership requirements, planning for growth, using technology effectively and applying best practices in the whole education system.

·         Creating culture understanding dimensions of culture which will be taken up by Prof. Sanjeev Prashar

·         Benchmarking education and need for standardization taken up by Prof. S.K.Mitra.

Apart from this, there were also some group activities in the evening every day after training from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm, planned by IIM Raipur to fully utilise the facility of residential program and is scheduled for both day 4 and 5 of the program.