Empowering educators

“The only true teacher is he who can immediately come down to the level of the student and transfer his soul to the student’s soul and see through the student’s eyes and hear through his ears and understand through his mind.” – Swami Vivekananda.

Education initiatives in India have been guided by much-deliberated principles to achieve outcomes that are crucial for progress. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) of the United Nations share the goals of universal quality education and lifelong learning. NEP 2020 recognises that for the continuous professional development of teachers, providing support for ongoing challenges in the work life of teachers is the most crucial aspect to improve the quality of education system. In this context, Para 15.11 of NEP 2020 proposes the creation of a large pool of outstanding professionals (Mentors) willing to provide mentoring to school teachers (Mentees) through the National Mission for Mentoring (NMM). These Mentors, regardless of their age or position, will contribute towards realising 21st century developmental goals of our nation by providing short and long-term mentoring/professional support to their Mentees i.e. teachers.

To meet this aspiration, the Government of India (GoI) launched the ‘National Mission for Mentoring – The Bluebook’ on March 9, 2024. The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), the apex statutory body which regulates teacher education in the country, has been mandated to take forward this nationwide mission. NMM is a pioneering national initiative for the capacity building and continuous professional support of teachers. It envisions mentoring to improve the acquisition and sharing of knowledge, skills and mindsets across the Indian education system. It provides an opportunity to soften the boundaries of hierarchies and bring a fundamental paradigm shift from the hierarchical, unidirectional, top-down flow of information and learning while aiming to create a more personalised and continuous learning experience.

Whenever mentoring is referred to, the first thought that comes to mind is that of the teacher being a Mentor for her/his student, the Mentee. Based on the principles of collaboration, decentralised support, peer learning, networking and cross learning, NMM strives to break this stereotype and recognise that the teacher too would need a Mentor who would be a friend, philosopher and guide. NEP 2020 places importance on the role of the teacher in facilitating constructive change in the teaching-learning process which will in turn aid students in achieving the learning outcomes. The teacher, as envisioned, should be well-versed in the latest advances in education and pedagogy while at the same time being grounded in Indian values, knowledge, languages and ethos. In the same breath, the capacity building of teachers and their continuous professional development is also paramount. Within the teaching community itself, there are large number of experts who have the knowledge and skills to contribute towards problem solving, capacity building of peers and being the enablers for their fellow teachers to lead fulfilling personal and professional lives.

The mentoring structure should largely be Mentee-directed and Mentee-driven. The focus should be primarily on the goals, identification of challenges and prioritisation of the Mentee’s requirements. The Mentor should facilitate, promote and support the Mentee’s mentoring experience, providing a safe space based on trust, mutual respect and confidentiality. The Mentor-Mentee relationship should be a symbiotic one, where both benefit from the interaction. The attributes that are essential for a Mentor to possess are good communication, empathy, expertise, experience, flexibility, awareness of diversity, leadership skills, reflective skills, creativity and critical thinking. A Mentee should be goal-oriented, enthusiastic, participative, curious, open minded, willing to learn and be guided.

NCTE has conducted several levels of research over the last two years which include a pilot carried out in 30 schools countrywide and deliberations with stakeholders and experts for obtaining their ideas/comments/feedback. A series of outreach programmes were also organised across the length and breadth of the country to engage with the stakeholders, primarily teachers, school leaders, students, DIETs and SCERTs. This bottom-up approach adopted in NMM enabled NCTE to come out with the well conceptualised ‘National Mission for Mentoring – The Bluebook’. As one navigates the seven chapters of The Bluebook, what catch the attention are the aspects of mentoring, attributes of Mentors and Mentees, Mentor selection process, modalities of carrying out the mentoring interactions, the design principles and technology components of the NMM web portal and the way forward. True to its logo, NMM signifies “a collaborative agency of the Mentor and Mentee where the spirit of learning, reflection and sharing towards capacity building is being fostered for mutual professional development”.

In NMM, the mentoring sessions are carried out online on the NMM Web Portal which acts as the registry for both the Mentors and the Mentees. The interactions can also take place on the NCTE’s in-house designed NMM Mobile Application. Mentoring interactions can be either Individual Mentoring i.e. one on one mentoring or Group Mentoring i.e. a Mentor addressing a group of Mentees. Individual mentoring is a more focussed discussion where the Mentee gets to discuss a chosen topic with the chosen Mentor. In Group Mentoring, a group of Mentees who are facing similar challenges deliberate the same with a Mentor. Mentoring sessions can take place in synchronous and asynchronous methods. A mentoring experience becomes beneficial when the interactions spur on the key actions – “Learn, Share, Solve and Connect”. NMM leverages technology to connect Mentors and Mentees regardless of their geographical location and aids in an effective two-way interaction that is based on trust, discovery and constructive feedback.

The programme design and planning, as provided in the ‘National Mission for Mentoring—The Bluebook’ and the National Mentoring Infrastructure (NMI), is envisioned as an open source module which can be scaled and is compatible with the National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR). The digital architectural aspect of NMI offers multiple mentoring solutions for the users and enables teachers, from even the farthest corners of the country, to avail of this empowering national initiative of mentoring. This would serve as a template for other stakeholders, including States and Union Territories, to adopt and/or adapt their own mentoring solutions. NCTE has set up a National Centre for Teachers Quality (NCTQ) to facilitate implementation, monitoring and analysis of NMM.

For the first year of pilot, 60 Mentors have been selected who are outstanding professionals in their respective fields. Among them, about 10 are teachers who have received national awards and each of them have created an impact in their professions. These extremely motivated Mentors take mentoring sessions on the currently identified 17 domains — Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, Equitable and Inclusive Education, Storytelling and Toy-based Pedagogy, Experiential Learning, Action Research, Ethics Morals and Constitutional Values, Competency Based Assessment, Indian Knowledge, Digital Education Literacy, 21st Century Skills, Mental Health of Teachers, Art Integrated Education, Sports Integrated Education, Community Engagement, Creating and doing a 360 degree Assessment (Holistic assessment) and Vocational Exposure and Skills.

Since the launch of the NMM Web Portal on May 31, 2023, approximately 262 mentoring sessions have taken place involving about 967 Mentees. In this year, it is aspired to increase the number of Mentors to about 1,000, which would in turn increase the domains of mentoring manifold. At the same time, there would be capacity building of key resource persons, feedback from Mentors and Mentees, sharing of best practices, continuous evaluation of the NMM programme and creation of assisting material to aid the mentoring process. In the scheme of NMM, the Mentee is the focal point and Mentee feedback, after every mentoring session, is a key component to enable constant evaluation of this initiative. Recently, over 1 lakh teachers from PM SHRI schools have been sensitised about NMM. To promote accessibility and ensure inclusion, the NMM Bluebook was launched in Braille and Audio Book formats on July 29, 2024, the 4th anniversary of NEP 2020.

The testimonials of Mentors speak volumes about the efficacy of NMM, like “… NMM gave me an opportunity to connect with eminent educationist and academicians from across the country. NMM helps in equipping teachers with the necessary skills to excel in their roles. After having onboarded as NMM mentor made me realise the power of collaborating to hone my existing skills. NCTE understood this need of professional growth and developed a dedicated NMM portal to facilitate mentor and mentees. Educators are being enriched by sharing their experience and learnings.”

Mentoring is a voluntary act wherein both the Mentor and Mentee participate on their own volition. Therefore, there are no monetary incentives given to the Mentors. However, at the same time, to recognise the selfless contribution of the Mentors, non-monetary incentives are inbuilt like Appreciation Certificates, opportunity to share the best practices in the year end seminar and linking with another national capacity building initiative of NCTE i.e. National Professional Standards for Teachers. The famous lines ring so true, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” Mentors empower teachers (Mentees) to reach their full potential, improve their teaching-learning practices and positively impact student learning outcomes. Ultimately, through the National Mentoring Mission, mentoring serves as a catalyst for creating a strong and vibrant educational community focused on continuous improvement.

The writer is an IRS officer, currently Member Secretary of National Council for Teacher Education, New Delhi. Views expressed are personal