by Mrs Namma Khan for BISMumbai

Don Bosco Senior Secondary School, Nerul organized a Capacity Building Programme on Critical and Creative Thinking for a select group of teachers in order to assist them in building up creative modules to facilitate better discussions in their classrooms. The two-day programme was conducted by CBSE’s Centre of Excellence for Teachers, Pune began on August 22, 2024.

The two resource people for the training programme were Mrs Kalyani Vinod and Mr Prashant Sharma. Mrs Kalyani Vinod holds a Masters’ degree in Economics, English and Business Administration while also holding a diploma from the Startup School India Program. At present, she serves as a CBSE Master Trainer and an Innovation Ambassador, assisting teachers of different background to improve class participation so as to build up critical thinking and a keen sense of observation among the students. Mr Prashant Sharma, an expert in Mathematics and Education, holds a Masters’ in both disciplines while also completing the Education Leaders’ Programme (EdLEAP) at IIM Calcutta.

Over the course of the two days, the resource persons focussed on building pathways towards promoting critical thinking, encouraging logical reasoning, fostering critical thinking and lateral literacy, and harbouring approaches to nurturing creative thinking and design thinking. These different concepts of education were presented in an innovative and engaging manner. Various activities were planned throughout the sessions to ensure the teachers actively participated and enthusiastically contributed their own creative ideas.

Mrs. Kalyani Chaudhuri, Principal of Don Bosco Nerul, highlighted the importance of incorporating critical and creative thinking skills into teaching practices in the 21st century. Similarly, Mrs. Kalyani Chavan, a teacher from Lok Puram Public School, Thane, beautifully summarized the memorable moments of the workshop in a poetic form.

Overall, the workshop was an enriching experience for all educators involved. It concluded with participants feeling energized and motivated to think outside the box to enhance learning in today’s ever-evolving educational landscape.