Now, Finland university experts to train primary teachers in state

Experts from the University of Turku, Finland, will now train government primary school teachers of the state.

To begin with, a group of experts from the European nation will hold a two-day orientation programme for near 300 primary school teachers, at Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Public Administration (MAGSIPA) here from January 21 and visit primary schools across the state.

Education Secretary KK Yadav said the first batch of 72 teachers was sent for three-week training to Finland in primary school teaching techniques. Buoyed by the success of the visit, the department roped in experts from the University of Turku to train primary teachers at their doorstep. This would help the trainers better understand the ground realities of education system prevailing in the primary schools and manner in which the teaching techniques could be realigned to suit the local needs.

The department has also tweaked the programme to train other batches in Finland. “Now, experts from Finland would train the targeted batch for the first week in Punjab and the remaining training would be conducted in Finland. The training of the next batch has been planned for March. The training of the first batch abroad had cost the state nearly Rs 2.5 crore. By partially training teachers in the state, some of the expenses would be saved,” said officials of the department.