ShikshaLokam has been working towards realising the vision outlined in NEP 2020. It is part of the working committee for the National Mission For Mentoring (NMM) and is catalysing mentoring for continuous professional development in the education ecosystem. It has worked with the National Council of Teacher Education and supported the drafting of the Mentoring Blue Book. The Blue Book breaks down the need and the process of ‘mentoring’ as a solution for the education system. It outlines how an expert’s insights could be made available to learners and enable them to solve their challenges. Here, both the mentor and mentee are education leaders. The former is a senior/ reiterated faculty and the latter is a mentee who is an emerging education leader seeking to enhance their skills and knowledge. 

A collaborative space for mentoring has been envisioned where mentees discover, connect, and interact with experts to seek support and professional guidance. The process involves interaction between an experienced person (mentor) and someone who wants to learn (mentee).

What Has Happened So Far?

ShikshaLokam has facilitated 15 open-house discussions on the National Mentoring Mission to build momentum for the mission across the country. This engaged stakeholders such as academicians, educational administrators, teacher educators, HoDs, SCERTs, DIETs, principals, and teachers from both public and private schools, as well as NGOs. These discussions aimed to gather inputs and ideas on a preliminary draft of the NMM from ground-level functionaries. The feedback and suggestions received were thoroughly deliberated upon and incorporated into the final draft Bluebook on Mentoring.

Currently, ShikshaLokam is actively supporting the nationwide rollout of NMM and is in the process of creating video resources to aid mentors and mentees. They are also working diligently to align PM SHRI Schools (a centrally sponsored scheme to aid 14,500+ schools to provide a conducive learning environment for children to thrive) with the mentoring mission through ongoing orientation sessions across the country. 

What to Expect in Upcoming Days?

Looking ahead, ShikshaLokam will work closely with NCTE to onboard mentors from different parts of the country, ensure effective mentor-mentee interactions through a dedicated technology platform, and build a sustainable mission for the ecosystem. They also aim to involve school leaders and teachers from PM SHRI Schools as mentors and mentees and intensify outreach efforts to promote NMM across diverse educational settings.

The pedagogy adopted by education leaders greatly influences the learning journey of students. Therefore, mentoring as an approach will surely transform an education leader’s learning cycle and further enable positive outcomes for children.