Bhubaneswar, Sept. 11: The demand for trained kindergarten teachers has shot up as pre-schools continue to mushroom in the capital.
However, with just one government institution offering the nursery teachers’ training programme, private entrepreneurs are pitching in to meet the growing requirement.
“The conventional blackboard teaching method has now given way to modern, scientific techniques and schools have to update themselves accordingly. That is where the need for trained teachers arises,” said Sanjukta Panda, principal of Kutie Kids pre-school.
College of Home Science affiliated to Odisha University of Agriculture Technology (OUAT) is the sole government-run institute imparting specialised training to prospective pre-school teachers and at least eight private centres here are running this course.
“Many pre-schools are recruiting teachers who do not have any training in early childhood education. Though private centres are emerging to fill the gap, the government must also come up with more training centres,” said Pranati Das, former director of OUAT’s College of Home Science.
The minimum eligibility for the one-year diploma course is an intermediate degree. Passouts are trained to manage students in kindergarten till Class II. While the course fee in the government college is Rs 7,000, private centres charge between Rs 10,000 and Rs 18,000 for the training programme. The private ones, however, ensure that they receive affiliation from recognised teacher’s training institutions. The teachers are paid between Rs 2,000 and Rs 16,000.
“We have been running the nursery teachers’ training course for the past three years. It stresses on practical exposure to classroom situations so that the teachers can familiarise themselves with child psychology,” said Nadia Moghbelpour, vice-principal of Blossoms School.
The educationist said it was also important that the government took steps to open more training centres.
“With trained teachers, parents can rest assured that their toddlers are in good hands,” she said.
