Aizawl, June 10: Cambridge University?s Cambridge Education India (CEI) institute and the Mizoram government are holding talks to train government teachers to improve the state?s education system.

CEI director Mark Bartholomew today said his institute and the state government are currently holding talks about training Mizoram teachers to achieve quality education in the state. He conceded that the cost of the training course offered by his institute was steep but added that it was willing to negotiate terms so that the education system in the state gets better.

Explaining why CEI had chosen to explore Mizoram for its training course among the seven northeastern states, Bartholomew said among the factors which weighed greatly in favour of the state were three major ones. These were its high literacy rate, its track record of peace and the status of being the best-governed state.

According to the CEI director, the teaching methods applied in most of the states in the country have become dated and is oriented too much towards textbooks, in that students are not encouraged to learn for themselves.

However, he stressed the need to have better Internet connectivity and other modern facilities to introduce newer methods of teaching.

?In these days of accelerated development, we really don?t know what is going to be vital for the future, which constraints will impede teachers most in imparting quality education in the present system. The emphasis now is to teach kids how to learn by themselves,? Bartholomew explained. He said in order to change the education system, teachers, too, need training.

?Children need to get involved in their own education. In order for this to happen, the style of teaching needs to be changed,? he said.

The course that would be offered to the state government would be a three-month course spread over a period of two years.

Teachers would be asked to attend classes one or two days a week and in the weekends, so that the normal teaching periods are not affected. Bartholomew said this elongated course would also give the teachers the opportunity to practise what they learn immediately and not wait until the course is over.

At present, CEI has started a teachers? training programme in Gujarat on a state-wide basis and if an agreement can be reached, Mizoram would become the next state to have teachers trained by Cambridge University.

When asked what he thought of result-oriented schools of which there are several in the state, Bartholomew opined that these are not good. He pointed out these schools usually drop unpromising students from Class IX or X.

?This is morally wrong as every student has a right to sit in examinations. Cent per cent pass results should never be expected by schools as it is only human that some students would excel while others fail,? he added.

He said he was hopeful of reaching an understanding with the state government for training the teachers.

Bartholomew arrived here on Wednesday at the invitation of governor A.R. Kohli and has visited several schools in the state capital. He has also met the education secretary and the education minister.