April 25, 2015 – a date that will always remain fresh in my memory. None of us even in our wildest of dreams could have imagined the earthquake and the disaster it did.

It was a packed FICCI Auditorium, New Delhi, as we all have gathered to celebrate the first successful year of The Progressive Teacher (TPT) magazine dedicated to empowering the school teaching community in India. A panel discussion on “Acknowledging the Teacher” was going on by the eminent leaders of the education industry when all of a sudden our chairs started rocking. We could feel the vibration under our feet and heart beat increasing. At that moment, all we could do was pray for the safety and well-being of our families, friends and fellow citizens.  As the movement, vibrations stopped the talk commenced.

The focus of the conclave was “Celebrating the Spirit of Teaching”. It was pleasure listening to the thought processes of the heads of schools, teachers. Mrs. Rita Wilson, editor of the magazine, started the conclave by welcoming the guests.

Prof. Krishna Kumar shared his insights in the keynote by talking about what does the term progressive mean. He gave a pearl by stating that as teachers we should trade an idea for an idea.

Col. A. Shekhar, the Principal of Atul Vidyalaya, shared that a lot is riding on a teacher’s shoulder. A creative person has to be burden less.

Mrs. Salony Priya, the Founder Trustee of Ummeed Foundation beautifully brought out a very important point by saying that teachers and schools still need to understand what is co-curriculum. We are still in the era of extra-curriculum.

 

[su_highlight background=”#d399ff”]Teachers should have a voice and must be partners in decision-making. Creative purposeful engagement cannot happen in a four wall. As leaders of education sector, they all agreed that there is a need to create different kind of learning spaces, both inside and outside of school. First teachers should be made to experience, for them to pass it on to the students, the future leaders.[/su_highlight]

Following learning came out of the Progressive Teacher Conclave:

 

1. A teacher should have high passionate quotient along with high emotional, intelligence and well being quotient.
2. Leader is a person who allows people to make mistakes and then helps them learn and grow by inspiring, motivating.
3. Leader needs to connect. One cannot be a leader in isolation. It stands true for teacher as a leader.
4. Leader must throw all his or her ego out of the window.
5. Leader is a person who wonderfully picks up oneself from the bottom and is up there.
6. Teacher training is the need of the hour and it must be improved and strengthened.
7. Schools should encourage self-motivation workshops to help teachers sustain their passion.

It was pleasure listening to the experts and leaders from the education industry. Their views validated our vision and our work. I attended the event with a very dear friend Sandhya Pathak.

We at JiNa work with schools by providing training to their teachers under our Teacher Engagement Programs on teacher leadership, life-skills, language enhancement and motivation. With our programs, participants feel refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to strike back at work with a renewed energy and spirit. Motivation helps individuals overcome inertia.

Have a question, please share we are listening. We offer both onsite and offsite Teachers Leadership Programs.