Chennai, Sep 30 Primary school teachers across Tamil Nadu will undergo a fresh round of training from October 7 to 10 under the state's flagship Ennum Ezhuthum (EE) initiative aimed at bridging learning gaps in the early grades.
The sessions will be conducted by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) and mark the first large-scale teacher upskilling exercise of the academic year.
According to senior Education Department officials, the training is targeted at teachers handling Classes 1 to 5, where students have been grouped into three levels based on current learning abilities.
The four-day programme will help teachers adapt lessons to each group and deploy the "time on task" method - a structured way of ensuring students get maximum classroom time for reading, writing and problem-solving.
In addition to core teaching techniques, teachers will be guided on using new handbooks, gathering and analysing student data, and applying creative methods to make foundational numeracy and literacy concepts easier to absorb.
"This is only the first level of training for this year; more rounds are planned to strengthen classroom delivery," an official said.
Launched after COVID-19 learning losses became evident, the 'Ennum Ezhuthum (EE)' programme initially covered Classes 1 to 3 but has since been extended to Class 5.
The initiative, backed by special workbooks and graded learning materials, has aimed to ensure that every child attains age-appropriate reading, writing and arithmetic skills.
Officials say the results have been encouraging. "EE has shown consistent improvement in foundational learning outcomes, inspiring us to expand and introduce complementary programmes such as the Theeran scheme," an Education Department source said.
Earlier this year, the State Planning Commission's State-Level Achievement Survey (SLAS) found that Tamil Nadu's Class 3 and Class 5 achievement levels in Tamil, English, EVS and Mathematics outperformed both state and national averages recorded in the 2021 National Achievement Survey (NAS).
The report attributed this largely to EE's structured approach. However, some teachers say momentum has slowed as attention shifted to new initiatives for Classes 6 to 8.
"We welcome the return to paper-based assessments and support EE's goals, but implementation needs to remain consistent and evolve with classroom realities," said a government primary school teacher.
With the new training cycle set to begin, the Education Department hopes to reinvigorate the programme and keep Tamil Nadu's early learning recovery on track.
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