On August 8, 2018, the Jharkhand Chief Minister, Shri Raghubar Das, launched a book titled Navachar Pustika, published under the RUPANTAR programme, documenting the small, yet effective methods formulated by teachers to improve the quality of education in government schools.
Appreciating the teachers’ efforts, Shri Raghubar Das remarked: “The dedicated teachers’ contribution cannot only take the state toward development but also provide right direction to the youth.”
The book, published by Sri Aurobindo Society under its Zero Investment Innovations for Education Initiatives (ZIIEI) programme of RUPANTAR, was unveiled during a conference of the NGOs working in the state’s education sector.
The event ‘Transforming Education through Partnership’ was organized by the State Department of School Education and Literacy (SEAL) in Ranchi, inviting some prominent NGOs working in the field of education, including Sri Aurobindo Society.
The book aligns with SEAL’s objectives to provide access to quality education to children even in the remotest areas of the state and also empowering teachers with better skills to enhance the quality of education.
The State Education Minister, Smt. Neera Yadav, Chief Secretary Shri Sudhir Tripathy, and Principal Secretary—School Education and Literacy Department, Shri A. P. Singh were also present at the launch of the book.
The book contains best practices in education created by 32 teachers, which make the teaching and learning process easy and engaging. The methods mentioned in the book can be replicated in any school across the country for specific improvements in education.
“The book provides recognition to teachers by identifying their best practices and scaling them up in schools across the state. We believe that teachers are the pillars of this nation and their contribution, if recognized and supported, can bring about a significant improvement in the quality and reach of education,” Shri Sambhrant Sharma, Director (Education), Sri Aurobindo Society, said.
The ideas were submitted by teachers during the ZIIEI training in the state in 2017. During the training, the teachers were encouraged to adopt and share any innovation in education they are implementing in their day-to-day teaching without any investment and using the available resources in schools.
Nearly 12,000 teachers submitted the innovative ideas they have been using in their schools. These were scrutinized and some of the best ones were compiled into the Navachar Pustika.
Some of the ideas mentioned in the book include inculcating moral values in students by rewarding them for doing some noble work in and outside school, reducing communication gap between children and teachers by focusing on the former’s local languages and conducting activities that increase interaction between the school and community.
About ZIIEI
ZIIEI is a mass-scale teacher outreach initiative that aims to find the scattered, isolated and unrecognized but effective solutions created by teachers and scale them up to millions of government schools across the country. These ideas require zero investment and germinate from the existing resources in schools.
Initially started in Uttar Pradesh, ZIIEI has in a short span of three years expanded to 22 states. More than 10 lakh teachers have been oriented toward innovation in education. 200,000 schools in the country are implementing zero investment ideas.
The first innovations handbook was launched in Uttar Pradesh with 11 replicable best practices formulated by government school teachers, mostly teaching in rural areas, in the state.
