UGC to bring mentors to train teachers, colleges asked for nominations

NEW DELHI: To set the ball rolling for the education ministrys National Mission for Mentoring (NMM) initiative, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked all Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) to nominate teaching faculty so that they can be onboarded as national mentors for school teachers. The faculty need to have an inclination for mentoring teachers, a notification from the UGC Secretary Manish R Joshi said. This flagship initiative of the Department of School Education and Literacy, envisaged in the National Education Policy 2020, aims to strengthen the professional development of school teachers across the country.NMM aims to create a pool of 1,000 mentors from across the country. NMM entrusted the responsibility of the initiative to the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE). The council had last year released a comprehensive document on the mission (NMM The Blue Book) with a detailed roadmap of its framework and implementation strategy. NEP stresses the critical role that teachers play in shaping the future of the nation, with emphasis on supporting and empowering them. The Bluebook quotes the unified district information system for education to highlight that India has approximately 95 lakh teachers in its schools, which include permanent, contractual and para teachers (Shiksha Mitra and Niyojit Shiskhak). The mission will serve as a platform for knowledge sharing, collaboration and reflection. The role of mentors is to provide guidance, support and expertise to their mentees, the document adds. These aspects figure in the NMM creation of resources that will assist the mentoring programmes. Translation of mentoring resources, capacity building of mentors, and non-monetary initiatives like awards and certificates figure in the mission. The document states that continuous evaluation of the programme and feedback from both mentors and mentees need to be carried out.