PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION OF IN–SERVICE SCHOOL TEACHERS FOR ‘PRAYAS’ PROGRAM IN ‘SCIENCE’ AND IMPACT IN CLASSROOMS IN KANDAGHAT BLOCK OF DISTRICT SOLAN OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

Abstract

Today most teachers enter teaching by means of a one or two-year, undergraduate program in education (B.
Ed.). There is provision of in-service training for the teachers to make the teaching effective to bring the quality in
education. Various in –service teacher training programs are organized by District Institutes of Educational Training
and State Institute of Educational Management and Training under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan in Himachal Pradesh. But,
the impact of the trainings has not been reflecting in the classrooms and students for last fifteen years. There is not
optimum improvement in the learning level of the students. It is necessary to make the teaching enjoyable and flexible
through various activities, small projects and ICT in new era. The creative and experimental activities are very much
needed in teaching of Mathematics and Science subjects. These activities help in building the confidence in the students
and give more opportunities of learning for the students. ‘PRAYAS’ in upper primary level is one of the program
organized by the DIET Solan to prepare the in – service teachers professionally for implementing it at the school level.
The objective of the study was to study the impact of In – service training program ‘PRAYAS’ in Science in the
educational block Kandaghat block of district Solan of Himachal Pradesh. The researcher selected three schools
conveniently in which two Govt. Senior Secondary Schools Chail and Kalhog; and one Govt. High School, Sakori of the
concerned educational block. The researcher collected the data through semi structured interview and recorded the
observations. It was found in the study that the students made the models and activities on the topics of their syllabus
books under ‘PRAYAS’ program with eco friendly material and waste material also utilized where suited. In this way
students learnt to use the waste material of routine life. The models and activities were very low cost and easy to handle
and care. The students learnt and understood the concepts easily. The more outcomes of the program are discussed in the
paper which will be beneficial for the educational planners and administrators and in-service teachers of the State.