The Education Department of the Dawoodi Bohra community, known as Attalimiyah, has developed an intensive faculty and educators’ training program for its community-run schools in India, aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 to enhance faculty proficiency and develop more professional standards.
In partnership with Reniscience Education, a consultancy firm, the series of bespoke workshops aims to empower nearly 900 teachers, instructional leaders, and educators across India.
“This program has encouraged me to focus on cultivating critical thinking, making connections across subjects, and fostering a love for learning,” said Mufaddal Calcuttawala, a principal and educator at TEMS School, Partapur.
An important guideline of NEP is the emphasis on moving beyond rote learning to foster critical thinking, creativity, and interdisciplinary understanding to equip learners with 21st-century skills.
The workshops also enable teachers to create emotionally safe classrooms with students as the centre and focus of all teaching policies.
“The things I learnt about social and emotional learning (SEL) through these workshops has brought home the importance of empathy and understanding. I now see teaching not as a job, but as a purpose." said Huzaifa Madarwala, an educator from Saifiyah School in Dungarpur. The integration of SEL helps promote the development of critical life skills which include teamwork and resilience.
The workshops also focus on project-based learning, assessment evaluation, and curriculum planning for long-term value.
“I always wanted to introduce project-based learning in my classroom and these training sessions served as the catalyst for implementing them. It helped broaden our vision and the results speak for themselves as students went above and beyond to display their creativity and parents have given a very positive response to the initiative,” said Murtaza Jamal, a principal and educator from Burhani School in Dahod.
NEP 2020 underscores the importance of such experiential approaches, highlighting that education must be “more experiential, holistic, integrated, and enjoyable for students.”
Attalimiyah’s training program represents an important step forward in aligning the community’s educational practices with India’s national goals for education reform.
