Bengaluru, January 10, 2024: Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. has associated with IT for Change (ITfC) to implement a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programme focusing on enhancing digital pedagogical skills of higher primary teachers in government schools in Karnataka for the academic year 2023-24. Kotak’s CSR Project, 'Integrating Digital Story-Based Pedagogy in Language Education,' under the Department of State Education Research and Training (DSERT), Karnataka, aims to equip teachers with the necessary technology know-how to use digital resources in their teaching practices.
Mrs Sumangala, the Director, DSERT, Karnataka said “We are happy that Kotak Mahindra Bank is supporting IT for Change to implement this state-wide teacher professional development program to build teachers’ capacities to create and curate stories with multilingual, inclusive and innovative approaches to meaningfully integrate these resources as part of their classroom practice. The program aims to build foundational language skills in students in primary schools in the languages that are taught in the schools”.
Himanshu Nivsarkar, Senior EVP & Head- CSR, Kotak Mahindra Bank, said, “The COVID pandemic had adversely impacted foundational language and mathematical skills of students which has resulted in their abilities to understand concepts and phenomena in other subjects as well. We have CSR funded IT for Change to impart teacher training using digital stories as a pedagogical tool to bridge this gap in students’ competencies and support their future in receiving quality education”.
Gurumurthy Kasinathan, Director IT For Change said, “Over the past two decades, IT for Change has been enabling meaningful integration of digital technologies in education. As part of the current programme, our professional development workshops and teacher trainings will empower teachers to integrate digital technologies in their practice, develop OERs for shared learning and encourage and community participation”.
The program will utilize inclusive and innovative pedagogies for language teaching, enabling teachers to experience and internalize meaningful technology. It will also establish teachers' Communities of Practice (CoPs) to promote mentoring and peer learning opportunities for them to share experiences and ideas. Addressing the multi-language education need of the state, the initiative will create 100 story-based resources in Kannada, English, Urdu, and Marathi, accessible as Open Education Resources (OERs) within a dedicated repository.
