Civil Service Trainees' New Focus: Making Districts into Engines of Growth

The past few years have seen many changes in the training process for Civil Servants. This has been done to make sure that this training is aligned with Mission Karmayogi, India's capacity-building program. This Mission focuses on citizen citizen-centric approach and also highlights the need for different states to collaborate to solve global issues. Some of the changes in the training such as focusing on the requirements of hilly and northeastern states while also having increased discussions on interactions the trainees had with school officials, health care workers, students, and other government employees.

I do feel that these discussions are a great step as they lead to these civil servants understanding the needs of the community better. This helps civil servants to help their community in a better way and to increase the capacity of many people across India.

This increased focus on changing the behavior of civil servants is also helping build their capacity. A few other changes such as writing a mission statement which will then be reviewed 25 years later also show that the training academies such as Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) in Mussoorie have started focusing more on skills that civil servants were lacking.

All these changes have helped make districts into engines of growth by focusing on assessing economic activities at a district level, identifying areas where growth is possible, and working on these spheres where there is scope for development.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/civil-service-trainees-to-focus-on-developing-districts-as-engines-of-growth/articleshow/96746390.cms?from=mdr

Value Education: President Murmu suggests additions to Education Curriculums

India's President Droupadi Murmu, recently addressed students and teachers and talked about the need for value education to be included in the school curriculums. She stated that there is currently a very large focus on rote learning the knowledge that is present in the textbooks. According to her, this value education has twofold benefits:

(i) It helps make children good citizens by teaching them values.

(ii) It also aids in the development and overall progress of society.

Such benefits of value education have already been seen with the Happiness Curriculum that was started in Government Schools in Delhi by the Delhi Government in 2018. This curriculum focuses on value education, meditation, etc.

During this session, President Murmu also talked about how children should also develop many other important values such as reading. She specifically highlighted how reading is one of the most important skills in life while also being one of the best methods of self-development.

I believe that this is a great initiative. This is because even though it is important for one to have knowledge it is also important for them to have good value systems. It is essential that these good value systems are engrained in our society, and making them a part of school curriculums is one of the most efficient ways of doing this.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/value-education-must-be-included-in-curriculum-president-droupadi-murmu-3642073

https://www.outlookindia.com/national/value-education-should-be-included-in-curriculum-president-droupadi-murmu-news-248660

Improving India's Education System: Teachers showcase Toy Based Education!

India's National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) recently organized a two-day workshop where teachers from many states such as Andaman and Nicobar Islands, West Bengal, Odisha, and Jharkhand showcased toy-based tools that transform students' educational experience. Through these toy-based tools, such as blocks, puppets, puzzles, etc the teachers aim to create an experiential learning environment for students. This is very important as it makes learning stress-free and an enjoyable experience for the students. Such an education also has many other benefits such as improving the social skills of students.

I believe that this toy-based learning is a great initiative and am glad that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has highlighted its importance.

I recently read an interview done by the founder of Rocket Learning, an NGO that aims to ensure that every child in India has access to high-quality early childhood education. It does this by providing Anganwadi Workers (The Anganwadi System is a public daycare system that has been set up by the government) with short digital practice lessons every day. Students are encouraged to watch these lessons and do the activities done in them. These students are also given rewards and nudges once they do activities.

I believe that Rocket Learning is doing great work as they are focusing on the most important group - students between the ages of 3 to 6. This group is very important as these are the years when humans start gaining curiosity and education is the only way to sustain this curiosity through high-quality education.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/teachers-showcase-toy-based-learning-tools-for-children/articleshow/95795929.cms