Inauguration of Online Workshop on Capacity Building for Teachers on 21st Century Skills Education

Online Workshop on Capacity Building for Teachers on 21st Century Skills Education A twelve-day online workshop on “Capacity Building for Teachers on 21st Century Skills Education” has been organised by Dr. S. Mekala and Dr. N. Thamaraiselvan from 21st June to 2nd July 2021 for the faculty members from ICSSR approved institutions at National Institute of Technology - Tiruchirappalli. This programme is sponsored by ICSSR.

The inauguration ceremony was conducted at 9.30 am on 21st June 2021 in the presence of Dr.Mini Shaji Thomas, Director, NIT-Tiruchirappalli, and Dr. T. Ravichandran, Professor, IITKanpur.

Dr. S. Mekala, Programme Coordinator, welcomed the gathering quoting Thirukkural and briefed the objectives of this twelve-day online capacity building workshop that equips the teachers to be competent in facing the challenges of the dynamic learning environment. She expressed that the dynamic leadership of the Director had been the source of inspiration to launch this event. Further, she emphasised that the 21st century Skills Education encapsulates social, personal, intellectual and 
emotional skills that aims at preparing the learners for meaningful and successful life in this globalized context.

Dr. N. Thamaraiselvan, Programme Coordinator expounded the effort underwent in the process of planning the programme, and selecting the participants. He elucidated the tasks involved in the organization of the workshop with the funding details. He introduced the contents of the programme such as skill-based learning, Emotional Intelligence, Collaboration skills, Worklife balance, etc. and described its significance at present digital era.

Dr. Mini Shaji Thomas rendered the presidential address. She added that the capabilities of NIT-Trichy are a public enterprise. She mentioned why it is important to have such workshops on capacity 
building for teachers to handle the students in this pandemic situation. She also encouraged the programme coordinators as well as the participants to conduct more educational activities to engage the students as well as teachers and keep their knowledge updated towards the situation. She wished great success to the programme coordinators for their initiative to disseminate skills education to the faculty fraternity in Arts and Science Colleges.

Dr. T. Ravichandran delivered the Keynote address. He discussed the significance of enhancing the teachers’ knowledge on 21st Century skills education to understand the learning perspectives of the 
students. Further, he insisted the teachers to possess positive attitude towards the emerging educational skills to handle the students’ learning outcomes. He provided insights on the recent mindset of recruiters and the employability of the students.                

Ms. C. Harishree, Research Scholar, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, NIT-T,expressed her profound gratitude to the Director, NIT-Tiruchirappalli, and the Programme coordinators for 
their guidance and support. She thanked the experts, who have accepted to share their valuable insights in this programme. Finally, she also  thanked the scholars’ team,who helped in organizing the workshop and the participants for making this twelve-day online workshop a successful endeavour.