 The block resource Centre (BRC) at block level and Naya panchayat Resource Centre (NPRC) at cluster level provide regular academic support, conduct teachers training, follow up workshops, meetings and opportunities for peer learning as well as sharing of good practices.
Though there was Assistant Basic Shiksha Adhikari already who was responsible for providing academic supervision & support and mainting the quality of education, but a sudden spurt in the number of schools & increment in enrollment, led to academic situation out of his control which resulted in educational crises. Consequently to rectify the anomalous situation, Kothari Commission conceptualized school as a cluster and came up with the idea of 'school cluster' and suggested to have a 'committee' in each school that would work towards improving the quality of education and learning achievement of education.
Under UP Basic Education Project, DIETs have been entrusted with the responsibility of improving the quality of education and speeding up the educational activities at district level. The Block Resource Centre at block level & Nyaya Panchayat Resource Centre at NPRC level have also been set up with the sole aim of providing academic support & guidance to teachers & schools and to significant role in the management of wide variety of quality improvement interventions at school level. Under the Project, NPRCs are nothing but school clusters as envisaged by Kothari Commission.
Creation of Posts
To execute project responsibilities and implement day-to-day activities at BRC/NPRC, posts of BRC-coordinators & NPRC-Coordinators have been created. While in BEP, there was only one BRC-C, in DPEP-II post of an Assistant BRC-C has been created alongwith BRC-C whereas in DPEP-III alongwith these posts, posts of two assistant coordinators have also been created at BRC level. Recently Project Approval Board, GOI has proposed to revise the existing norms for strengthening of BRC/NPRC frame work for implementation of SSA as six Block Resource Persons for Specific Training along with one Resource Person for CWSN, MIS Incharge data entry operator and one Accountant Cum Support Staff..
Role of BRC/NPRC Panchayat Resource
The role of BRC-C & NPRC-C is mainly academic. They conduct academic & co-curricular activities and hold 'Model lesson' demonstration for teachers and develop low cost locally available T.L.M. for teaching learning. They also take care of creating congenial environment to facilitate teaching learning process and guide teachers on how they can improve learning levels of children. Thus the role of BRC-C & NPRC-C is very crucial and therefore it is necessary that their selection is done carefully. Hence a well planned selection process which includes written test & interview has been formulated through which selection of BRC/NPRC coordinators is done.
Selection of BRCs & NPRC
For the selection of BRC-C various workshops are organized at respective BRCs with the combined efforts of ABSA, District Coordinator (Training) and a representative from DIET. The willing candidates are invited in these workshops who have gone through some screening tests. The names of the short listed candidates are their respective DIETs. After receiving the names of the short listed candidates from all BRCs, all short listed candidates are called for written test, which is conducted to judge the knowledge of the candidate in the subject his/her acquaintance with teaching methodologies, test his/her aptitude and attitude towards children and to find out his/her capabilities in solving day-to-day teaching problems. For conducting the written test, a committee has been formed, which consists of : Principal DIET | Chairman | Expert B.S.A. | Member - Secretary | Vice Principal DIET | Member | Senior Lecturer of DIET | Member | Dy. B.S.A. | Member | In case if the candidates are outnumbered, the help from the other numbers of the DIET faculty is also sought. The candidates who get marks above 60% are called in 30-30 batches to attend a workshop. The aim of this workshop is to find out their educational interest, communication skills, attitude, working capacity and their understanding of time management. These candidates were also called for interview for their personality & aptitude tests. Care is taken to maintain transparency of the whole selection process. The list of the names of the selected candidates is made available to expert BSA and DIETs. All the selected candidates are then been positioned.
Physical and Financial Resources
Acequate physical and financial resources are being provided to fulfill requirements of BRCs and NPRCs to fulfill its requirements. T.V., V.C.R., Generater set, video and audio set, books, magazines etc., Tat Patti, dari, Chairs, tables, almariahs etc. Contingency and T.A./D.A. is also given to them. There is a committee of finance, ABSA is president of this committee and they spend the money, with the help of finance committee. In this way, the BRC and NPRC have a suitable building and proper things and installment to lead in academic field. There are installments also, which helps BRC-C and NPRC-C to create a environment within villagers in the field of support to teachers. BRC and NPRC coordinators can manage campaign for men and women. At last, we can say that the BRC and NPRC are the strong pool to create child's learning process and his or her progress in every field of development.
Empowerment of BRC/NPRC coordinators
To execute project responsibilities and implement day-to-day activities at BRC/NPRC, posts of BRC-coordinators & NPRC-Coordinators have been created. While in BEP, there was only one BRC-C, in DPEP-II post of an Assistant BRC-C has been created alongwith BRC-C whereas in DPEP-III alongwith these posts, posts of two assistant coordinators have also been created at BRC level.
CAPACITY BUILDING
Empowerment and capacity building of BRC & NPRC Coordinators is crucial for teacher support at school level. Therefore, three day orientation workshop is organised for them called SAMARTHAN, a foundation training package at its base. The training package consisted of the following points : -
Planning During the workshop, coordinators are oriented with how to develop yearly plans, quarterly plans & monthly plans; how to plan training sessions and develop progress report. They were also familiarized with how and when conduct school visits; provide academic support to teacher; organize training, meeting, seminars, workshops, tour, supervision, documentation, etc. They were also oriented with a plan chart according to which they carry out their responsibilities.They were also trained on how they can solve academic problems on spot.
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Organization (Execution of the programme) The coordinators were acquainted with the different aspects of the programme like division of work, work area, decentralization of responsibilities, different methods of organization and so on. The coordinators were also given training on how to provide academic guidance and on spot solutions to the problem, which occur unexpectedly during teaching-learning process. They were also trained on keeping & maintenance of records; how to work in participatory manner; seek cooperation, conduct group work; and divide limited time in an effective way (time management).
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Management Since BRC/NPRC coordinators are managers of BRC/NPRC centres therefore, it is must that they should have clear vision on management. Therefore in the foundation training workshop, (SAMARTHAN). they were educated on different aspects on management skills, like decision making, taking all pros & cons into consideration, optimum utilization of money and time, analysis of a situation, taking quick decision, having sense of direction, seeking cooperation of others, etc. They were also oriented with how to conduct training sessions effectively like what rules to follow during training session, how to inspire every participant to take part in training session, how to use 'lock system' (for talkative participants)
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Evaluation & Analysis Evaluation of any programme helps in assessing the strength & weakness of the programme and thus provides its future direction and if it is the question of academic improvement, evaluation & analysis becomes very important. Since BRC-C & NPRC-C play important role and organise training workshops, seminars, meeting in academic activities, it is must for them that they should be acquainted with evaluation process and must have an analytical approach. BRC-C/NPRC-C are supposed to evaluate not only physical structure of BRC / NPRC /School buildings, but also behaviour & attitude of teachers, their presentation skill and their understanding on the subject. It is to be noted that there is no fixed rule or process for evaluation but depending on situation & circumstances and on the presence of mind of BRC-C & NPRC-C who adopt evaluation process, the training of which is provided to the coordinators during their foundation training workshop. 38 points parameters were developed in the light of pedagogical design in DPEP. The schools are awarded any of grades A, B, C or D. These were institutionalized by government of U.P. vide G.O. No. edu-5/3759/15.5.2001-346/2001, 13 September 2001 & revised G.O. No. edu 5/4300/15.5.2001-346/2001, 3 January 2002. The feedback received from the field revealed that the 38 parameter school grading format was not only lenthy but repititive in nature. Therefore, this format was again revised and 10 parameters school grading format has been institutionalised by government of UP vide G.O. 5/4082/79-5-346/2003 dated 11 August, 2003. It is duty of N.P.R.C. to pay more attention on "C" and "D" Grade schools so that they may be upgraded. The grading of B.R.C. and N.P.R.C. is also one by DIET.
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Documentation (Reporting) Documentation or report writing is must for BRC-C / NPRC-C as writing reports not only helps others to understand one's work but also let one to assess the programme and thus bring required improvement in the next programme's. BRC-C / NPRC-C are trained on documentation skills - like how to write effectively, be precise in writing yet covering all important aspects of the programme, be unbiased and maintain clarity in writing.
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Identification of resource persons One of the responsibilities of BRC / NPRC coordinators is to identify resource persons. These resource persons are called in meeting, workshops, seminars to provide extra guidance on teaching-learning for e.g. if a teacher is not clear on the concept of fraction, any person who has clear understanding on 'fraction' is invited in the meeting by BRC/NPRC - coordinator to explain the concept to the teachers. Thus resource persons help & guide teachers in explaining gray areas in teaching. Besides providing training on above discussed points, BRC/NPRC coordinators are also given training on upkeep of records, maintenance of school library, conducting small scale competition, bringing out newsletter, forming resource persons team, etc. FINANCIAL TRAINING
BRC / NPRC coordinators are also provided financial training as how to keep cashbook, how to document expenditure & revenue, maintaining various formats related to finance. A two day training on finance was given by an accountant to BRC-C & NPRC-Cs who oriented them with how to fill TA/DA formats invite quotations to make comparative charts, issue procurement orders and payment of bills.
Another financial training based on 'sabal' module has also been given to them to provide orientation on financial rules & regulations like Grant Receipt System, purchasing process, payment system, T.T. rules, In-service Teachers' Training, Storing System, Maintenance of Important Records etc.
VISIONING WORKSHOPS
In order to provide a fresh perspective to the traditional thinking and attitude of those involved in academic and educational administrative management, a 3 day visioning workshop is organized for BRC-Cs / NPRC-Cs, BSA, Expert BSA, Dy BSA, ABSA & lecturer from DIETs. ACADEMIC SUPPORT & SUPERVISION
The responsibility of BRC-C/NPRC-C is not to pay visits in schools to find faults but in fact, they have to go to schools for providing academic support to the teachers. Therefore during training workshop, efforts were done to make them realize that they are not inspectors but guide and friend to teachers. They do not have to conduct academic inspection of schools but conduct academic supervision visits to schools. They were made to understand that for effective academic supervision it is necessary that they stay in a school for a full day and participate in school activities. They must also organize different educational activities like organizing Bal Sabhas; holding classes, organizing competition; maintenance of school library, science kit, laboratory, etc.
NPRC coordinators visit all primary schools at least once in a month. BRC coordinators and assistant coordinators visit 20 primary schools each in a month.
TEACHER TRAINING (For year 2010-11) -
Primary level 1- Training on Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE). (2 days) 2- Training on Reading Skils & Numeric Skill Development (2 days) 3- English Teaching Training (3 days) 4- Training in Context to RTE Act 2009 (3 days)
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Upper Primary level 1- Training for Activity Based Maths Teaching (2 days) 2- Training for Activity Based Science Teaching (2 days) 3- Training for English Teaching (3 days)
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BRC / NPRC Coordinators All training programme for 17 days mentioned for primary & upper primary level along with roles & responsibility of BRC/NPRC Coordinators for effective monitoring & supervision. |