Education leaders and recipients of the John M. Thompson Fellowship Programme refreshed their knowledge of unions in the region while learning about strategic plans for their own organisations and ways to contribute.
Twenty-two John M. Thompson, or JTF, Programme fellows, along with the presidents and general secretaries of participating states, gathered in New Delhi, India, for the programme’s in-depth refresher course aimed at creating better a understanding of regional union initiatives. Taking place from 3-5 November, attendees from the states of Uttarakhand, Haryana and Maharashtra gathered at the headquarters of the All India Primary Teachers Federation (AIPTF), where they shored up political commitments to implement various action plans.
Outcomes
This refresher course:
· Evaluated the skills gained by the JTF fellows as resource persons by facilitating them to train future JTF fellows in partnership with Education International (EI)’s Asia-Pacific (EIAP) Regional Office
· Improved the Hindi version of the summary of modules to be used for future JTF training in India
· Evaluated areas of improvement in the union
· Developed an action plan for the JTF fellows to achieve desired improvements in the state organisations
In addition, the fellows shared updates on the implementation of the action plan in their respective states and provided feedback on the JTF programme and training.
Emerging education leaders
“The fellows showed great progress throughout the refresher course,” said Anand Singh from the EIAP. “The fellows’ potential was clear as they displayed the promise required to one day become future leaders or invaluable resources to their unions.”,
The JTF Programme at a glance
The Programme in Asia was launched in 1999 to assist organisations in the Asia Pacific region that showed potential to grow and become stronger. In 2015, the JTF Programme was held for four AIPTF state affiliates, and included workshops to adopt modules that included elements based on the participating organisations’ needs. It also included four orientation meetings for the fellows with AIPTF and respective states’ leaders to encourage action on the plans prepared during the training by the fellows. A refresher course was also included as a follow-up activity aiming to monitor the progress towards implementation of the action plan and update the fellows’ skills.