Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the first-ever Kerala School Education Congress on April 1.
Organised by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), the three-day conference, to be held at the Kerala Arts and Crafts Village, Vellar, here, will discuss the latest trends, researches, and practices in education.
Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty told mediapersons on Tuesday that this was the first international conference in the education sector being organised by the General Education department. Besides various initiatives by the Pinarayi Vijayan government to improve infrastructure and quality of education, extensive public discussions were held as part of the school curriculum revision. Going beyond such local-level discussions, there was need to become familiar with education models around the world and accept those suited to the State. The conference would provide a platform to discuss and share new innovations, interventions and perspectives in education so as to give a further fillip to strengthening public education in the State.
The State already had two rounds of talks with Finland on sharing best practices and another two rounds with the British Council on vocational education, the Minister pointed out.
The Kerala School Education Congress is planned as an annual event. It will deliberate on a chosen focal theme every year and bring together policy makers, administrators, teachers, teacher educators, trainees, students, parents, and so on.
Nine sub-themes
There are nine sub-themes this year, including curriculum planning and implementation; gender justice and school education; innovations in pedagogical practices and in assessment; preschool education, and so on.
Following the inauguration at 10.30 a.m., Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit Vice Chancellor M.V. Narayanan will deliver the keynote address on Kerala ‘Educational scenario — history, current trends, and way forward.’
Multiple technical sessions on sub-themes will be held. Bulaki Das Kalla, Minister for Education, Rajasthan, will be the chief guest at a ‘School education conclave’ to be held at 6.30 p.m. in the evening. Chief Secretary V.P. Joy will deliver the keynote address. Representatives of the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments will attend.
Public financing
On day 2, National University of Educational Planning and Administration former vice chancellor Jandhyala B.G. Tilak will speak on ‘Public financing of education.’ An open forum on ‘Kerala general education scenario’ will be held in the evening.
On April 3, Jonna Kongas, adjunct professor, University of Helsinki, will speak on ‘Teacher education paradigms and recent developments in Finland.’
Minister for Finance K.N. Balagopal will inaugurate the valedictory and give away awards for the best academic papers across nine sessions on the occasion. Nearly 300 delegates from within the State, outside, and abroad will attend the conference. Nearly 180 papers will be presented.
