Govt of Bihar Works On Teacher Education Project

The Government of Bihar and the British Council has started working on the Educational
Department, on a teacher education project which aims to improve the teaching of English at secondary level in all Government Schools in Bihar.

This project named BLISS (Bihar Language Initiative for Secondary Schools) was initiated in the month of January in 2012 and runs till March 2014.

Debanjan Chakrabarti, the head of English partnership i.e. the East India said "As a part of the BLISS project, we have commissioned 'Pratham-Annual Status of Education Report 9ASER)' Centre to assist us in the production of a Bihar English Profile. The profile is an attempt to address research and information gaps that exist in English language teaching sector in Bihar".

Objective of the Project:

• It aims to produce a comprehensive but accessible profile of the state which will be a core reference document for educational product development, project interventions and reform.
• It will be of use to state planners, administrators, professionals and educationalists, as well as external agencies such as a digital resource which would be made freely available on British Council of India and Global websites.

Moreover, A limited number of print editions will also be provided for Key stakeholders, he added. Anindya Datta Gupta, an education consultant Pratham Education Foundation, New Delhi says "We are creating an English Language Profile for Bihar, which includes elements like English teaching, teacher training, English learning levels in both Government and Private schools (Including private English teaching institutes like British Lingua). This project is concerned more with figures as this is more quantitative in Nature".

Also Mr.Gupta added as "We hope the profile will be a useful reierence document as well as a convienient aid for planning purposes for the department of education, Government of Bihar."