The HRD Ministry on Wednesday launched the National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancements (NISHTHA) aimed at training over 42 lakh teachers across the country. The basic objective of the massive training programme is to motivate and equip teachers to encourage and foster critical thinking in students, Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said at the launch.

“The teachers will get awareness and develop their skills on various aspects related to learning outcomes, competency based learning and testing, learner-centered pedagogy, school safety and security, personal-social qualities,” he said.

“Inclusive education, ICT in teaching-learning, including artificial intelligence, health and well-being, initiatives in school education, including library, eco club, youth club, kitchen garden, school leadership qualities, environmental concerns, pre-school, pre-vocational education and school-based assessment in a joyful learning manner, are among the areas that will be covered in the training,” he added.

The training will be conducted directly by 33,120 key resource persons (KRPs) and state resource persons (SRPs) chosen by the state and UTs, who will in turn be trained by 120 national resource persons identified from the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), KendriyaVidyalayaSangathan (KVS), NavodayaVidyalayaSamiti (NVS), Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and NGOs.

Some of the features of the integrated programme are activity-based modules, including educational games and quizzes, social-emotional learning, motivational interactions, team building, etc.