Patna, March 23: Teachers’ performance is the most crucial input in the field of education and thus there is a need for adopting a quality training for teachers — this was the essence of a scholarly discourse at the inaugural day of UGC-sponsored national seminar on “Teacher Education: A National Challenge”.

The event was organised by St Xavier’s College of Education on its premises, in collaboration with Xavier Institute of Social Research.

Hasan Waris, director of State Council Educational Research and Training, Bihar, and also the chief guest at the occasion said in his inaugural speech: “There should be a continuous involvement of teachers with the students. This will help students inculcate the lessons as well as understand the moral of the chapter. But at the same time the educational system also demands the same from the students who are supposed to maintain a disciplinary approach towards their teachers and try to follow their teacher’s guidance.”

He added that unless this is done, the ideologies set up in educational programmes cannot be achieved and cannot be implemented in practical. “Besides, the teachers should always be ready for any sacrifice for a student. A teacher should develop his personal traits among students and should keep in mind that they are the role models of their students and are valued more than their parents,” Waris said.

K.P. Pandey, the former vice-chancellor of Kashi Vidyapeeth, Varanasi, said: “We have to develop a quality in the educational system. Be it in areas like teaching, the process of education or the output, all requires a quality culture. Teachers’ education needs to be looked at by the institutions and also by policy makers and all who are somehow connected with the system.”

Pandey added that the educational system should be progressive by adding new things to the curriculum and teachers should be encouraged for research work.

Around 55 research papers will be presented in the two-day-long seminar that will emphasise on the subject like quality of education in teachers’ education, value addition in teachers’ education, use of information communication technology, accreditation of teacher education, revamping Madarsa education in Bihar and educational institutions as entrepreneurial challenges.

The research paper of Amrendra Kumar, a professor in department of physics, Patna University, and Namita Kumari, professor at National Teachers’ Training College, Patna, deals with the ways in which concept maps can be utilised as a learning tool and gives reasons why they should be introduced as an important educational tool.