Training Teachers of Tripura

Vision Empower conducted a two-day Pragya Teacher Training in hybrid mode from 29th to 30th August 2022 in IEPVD Boys’ and Girls’ School, Narsingarh, Agartala. The training was focused on foundational concepts of Algebra, Geometry and Science module. A session on Braille literacy with students was also conducted. A total of 7 teachers participated in person, out of which 2 are sighted and 5 are persons with visual impairment. VE school coordinator, Sudipta, was present in person to facilitate the training program. Devidatta, Meghna and Supriya joined online and facilitated the session.

The sessions on Day 1 began with a short orientation and welcome address by Supriya. Followed by this, teachers were introduced to foundational activities to help children with visual impairment at Grade 2-5 level to help them develop a strong foundation for subjects such as Algebra and not being debilitated by any sense of fear towards the subject. Plenty of related resources such as items from day-to-day life, models, teaching aids such as Rangometry shapes, Tangram shapes, 3-D shapes and tactile diagrams with geometrical drawings were used for the session.

On Day 2, hands-on activities on foundational geometry were introduced followed by practical exposure to geometric drawings using the tactile geometry kit. After this, hands-on activities on the concepts related to “Water” were introduced in Science. A reading skills workshop on a pilot group of children was conducted as part of the Braille literacy program which is to begin in the near future on Hexis.

The teachers participated actively and all the sessions including all the applications and activities discussed during the Pragya sessions were very well received. They shared that these activities and materials would be very useful for their students. Support sessions from VE to the two schools will continue on a weekly basis for the teachers. They would also be trained on Digital Literacy in a program soon which will cover the Subodha App. The pilot group of children will be provided with reading materials on the Hexis device based on their individual reading level, to help them to further improve their reading and comprehension skills.