President of India Launches National Teachers' Portal

The President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil launched a national portal for teachers www.teachersofindia.org, at Rashtrapati Bhavan today on the occasion of Teachers' Day. Launching the Portal the President said it is definitely a medium to improve the quality of education in schools and will also improve the teacher-student interaction in class.

The Azim Premji Foundation has developed the Portal, with support from the National Knowledge Commission, which has been working for the creation of web, based portals on key issues for aggregating and disseminating knowledge. The portal for teachers will offer a platform for sharing best practices and generating discussion in the teaching community. Over the next few months the portal will offer content in several languages as well as provide access to other communities such as students, parents, teacher educators etc.

The initial phase of the portal envisages a space for teachers to express their ideas and share their thoughts on any subject that touches their professional lives. Phase one involves the uploading of material created by and for teachers in five languages (Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada). These will be short articles written by teachers on subjects of their choice including classroom practice, their experiences in school, ideas that they tried to experiment on etc. This Phase also envisages the beginnings of a district-wise directory of resource organizations working in education – this will help teachers gain access to material and people in their own geographic area.

During the subsequent phases of the portal, teachers will continue to contribute their thoughts. Links will be provided to websites of other organizations, institutions and people to provide access for teachers. Resource material (articles, policy documents, manuals, tools, modules etc.) by experts in the field will be made available on the portal either directly or through links. Teachers will be able to interact with each other and post questions, opinions etc. The number of languages offered by the portal will gradually increase until all Indian languages are covered. The Home Page will also feature a "Teacher of the Month" in recognition of special efforts.

This portal will offer resources related to: - Education Perspectives (Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, Economics), Classroom Practice (Principles of Pedagogy, Pedagogy of Language, Science, Mathematics, History, Geography, Political Science, Economics, EVS, Art, Music, Dance, Sports) including manuals, activities, modules, tools etc. Subject Content (Language, Science, Mathematics, History, Geography, Political Science, Economics, EVS, Art, Music, Dance, Sports) Stories, Songs, Games that teachers can use in class, reading resources (including links to other websites/portals/on line library), research information and specific case studies.