The Union Human Resource Development Minister has recently introduced the ‘National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA)’, an ambitious mission aiming to elevate learning outcomes at the elementary level. Along with this innovative initiative, additional resources such as NISHTHA Website, Training Modules, Primer Booklet, and a Mobile App were also unveiled by the Minister.
About ‘National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement’
NISHTHA is an unprecedented program in the global context, being the largest teachers’ training initiative of its kind worldwide. The primary objective of this program is to inspire and equip teachers to stimulate and nurture critical thinking among students. This is to be achieved by raising the teachers’ awareness and enhancing their skills in various areas including: Learning Outcomes, Competency-Based learning and Testing, Learner-centered Pedagogy, School Safety and Security, Personal-social qualities, Inclusive Education, ICT in teaching-learning including Artificial Intelligence, Health and well-being including yoga, Initiatives in School Education including library, eco-club, youth club, kitchen garden, School Leadership qualities, Environmental Concerns, Pre-school, Pre-vocational Education and School-Based assessment.
Ambitious Goals of NISHTHA
NISHTHA aims to enhance the capabilities of around 42 lakh participants, covering all teachers and heads of schools at the elementary level in all Government schools. It also encompasses Faculty members of State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs) and District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs), Block Resource Coordinators and Cluster Resource Coordinators in all States and UTs.
| Participants | Number |
|---|---|
| Teachers and Heads of Schools at the Elementary Level | 42 lakh |
| Faculty Members of SCERTs and DIETs | Data Not Provided |
| Block Resource Coordinators and Cluster Resource Coordinators | Data Not Provided |
Implementation of NISHTHA
As per the program design, the training will be conducted directly by 33,120 Key Resource Persons (KRPs) and State Resource Persons (SRP) identified by the State and UTs. These resources persons will receive their own training from 120 National Resource Persons identified from National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) and others. States and UTs have the option to customize the training modules and use their own content and resource persons as well, provided they adhere to the core topics and anticipated outcomes of NISHTHA.
Key Features of NISHTHA
The hallmark features of the NISHTHA programme include activity-based modules, a built-in continuous feedback mechanism, online monitoring and support system, and training need and impact analysis (pre and post-training). A Mobile App and Learning Management System (LMS) based on MOODLE (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) have been developed by NCERT. The LMS is intended for registration of Resource Persons and Teachers, dissemination of resources, training gap and impact analysis, monitoring, mentoring, and measuring progress online.