Digantar announces its annual certificate course in Foundations of Education. This course is sixth in the line of courses initiated by Digantar since 2005. The programme is an attempt to situate educational practice within the realms of theory, through an understanding of the larger sociological, philosophical and psychological perspectives which underlie the educational endeavour. Being deeply embedded in ideas which reflect the educational discourse, the course tries not only to reflect on the nature and pedagogy of different subject areas but also tries to deliberate, contest and understand the variegated space surrounding education. This is reflected in initiating discussions on issues like the idea of school, teaching learning process, assessment, merit, teacher education and research in education. It thus helps in situating elementary education praxis in theory rather than just limiting it to a narrow view of literacy and numeracy.
The course started in a background where affairs in elementary education had become an issue for the concerned citizens, governmental organizations, civil society and all sorts of voluntary organizations in our country. These encouraging signs provided the platform to initiate a systematic and sustained dialogue among the concerned individuals already working or willing to work in the area of elementary education. Thus to facilitate this dialogue Digantar started a short term Certificate Programme in Foundation of Education in 2005. The course thus aims to reach out to these concerned groups of people viz. government officials, civil society actors, educational practitioners etc. involved in curriculum and material development, policy and planning, schools or teacher education.
This is another step by Digantar to move towards realizing its aim of ensuring quality and access to education to the marginalized and excluded sections of society, which it has been pursuing since its inception in 1978. Digantar believes that the purpose of education is to make the child a self-motivated and independent learner with the ability to think critically.
People working in your unit/project are working to stem the rot in education system and improve the quality. Any such effort is unlikely to be sustainable if it is not accompanied by a clear knowledge and understanding of the issues involved their interaction and their implication for education. This course is, in our considered opinion, will go a long way to prepare them better for the arduous journey they have undertaken.
Due to persistent demand for the course to be conducted in Hindi, this year the medium of instruction would be Hindi. The course would start from August 26, 2010 and the last date for registration and receipt of the application form is August 15, 2010. A limited number of fellowships are available on a need based basis. For detail information about the programme, the session plan and the application form for the course and the fellowship please consult Digantar website www.digantar.org.
For further details, please see the attachments.
