IIM to train 200 school heads in leadership development

The Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Sirmaur, will train heads of 200 schools under the School Leadership Development Programme. Samagra Shiksha has signed an agreement with IIM-Sirmaur to this effect.

As master trainers, the school heads will train other teachers in the leadership development. “It is the first time in the history of the state that teachers will be trained by the country’s top institution like IIM,” said a Samagra Shiksha spokesperson.

“The state government has announced in the Budget to get teachers trained by top institutions. To implement this, Samagra Shiksha is going to train school heads under the Leadership Development Programme through IIM-Sirmaur,” said Samagra Shiksha Director Rajesh Sharma.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Education Minister Rohit Thakur had also made announcements to this effect, the spokesperson said, adding that this would ultimately prove helpful in improving the quality of education.

It’s in line with these announcements that Samagra Shiksha approached IIM-Sirmaur to train the school heads. Among the 200 teachers to be trained under the School Leadership Development Programme, 100 are principals, 50 are headmasters and 50 centre head teachers. The training will begin from October 7.

In the first phase, 52 school heads will be trained during a five-day programme. In the first batch, eight teachers each from the remote districts of Kinnaur and Lahaul & Spiti and 16 from Chamba district will be trained. Twenty teachers from Mandi district will also be included in this programme. The second batch of teachers will go for training from November 11 to 15.

The spokesperson said special focus was being laid on the training of school teachers to equip them with qualities like leadership, school functioning and financial management. “This year, Samagra Shiksha is also training about 1,000 school heads at the Himachal Pradesh Institute of Public Administration in office procedure and financial management. The training is being given in several batches,” the spokesperson said.

The Chief Minister and Education Minister Rohit Thakur have congratulated Samagra Shiksha and school heads on this initiative.