Aligarh: Aligarh Muslim University school teachers were endowed with prowess to efficaciously master communication skills, structure effectively their speeches and engage with students in the best ways during three online interactive workshops on communication skills, value-based education and e-content.

The workshops were held as a part of the Faculty Development Programme of the University Grants Commission Human Resource Development Centre.

Speaking on the importance of having structured counselling and guidance programme; the Chief Guest, Prof Asfar Ali Khan, Director, Directorate of School Education, said that these programmes will help students to develop a positive self-image and a sense of identity, create a set of beliefs and a value system that will guide their behaviour and actions.

“A teacher should be proficient in all modes of communication and should know how to utilise this proficiency effectively in a school environment. Being able to do this has been proven to impact the success students achieve in their academic lives, as well as the teacher’s own career success”, he emphasised.

Prof Asfar also urged the teacher participants to de-stress and decompress themselves.

“A leader is someone who inspires positive, incremental change by empowering those around them to work toward common objectives. A leader’s most powerful tool for doing so is communication. Effective communication is vital to gain trust, align efforts in the pursuit of goals, and inspire positive change. When communication is lacking, important information can be misinterpreted, causing relationships to suffer and, ultimately, creating barriers that hinder progress”, said Prof AR Kidwai, Director, UGC HRDC.

He was speaking on communication skills involved in academic leadership, financing and governance.  

Prof Kidwai pointed out that school teachers at AMU have successfully brought in tremendous changes in the teaching and assessment quality. 

“This system of grammar is complex and tricky. The rules of language might become hard to follow which is why it is imperative to develop familiarity with grammar skills”, said Prof M Asim Siddiqui.

He explained how to avoid misnomers and common grammatical errors in day-to-day communication in a session on ‘Grammar for Communication’.

Prof Samina Khan, Department of English, spoke on gender stereotypes and attributes and gender role reversal.

Prof Sami Rafiq stressed improvements in spoken and written language.

Prof Ekram Khan, Department of Electronics Engineering, discussed how to use online platforms for interactive teaching and assessment.

Prof Raashid Nehal, the Course Coordinator of the workshop, delineated nuances and subtleties of communication skills and how they are influenced by audience, culture, context, functions and situation.

Prof Aysha Munira Rasheed deliberated the dynamics of managing communication skills related to ‘Work from Home’.

Prof SN Tiwari, Department of Hindi, highlighted the traits of New Education Policy and medium of instruction issues in local language communication.

Prof Shah Alam, Department of Psychology, spoke on stress-busting techniques for leading a balanced lifestyle.

Prof Anup Saikia, Department of Geography, Gauhati University, spoke on the necessity for teachers to live a healthy life and maintain good communication.

Prof Deepak K Singh, Punjab University, elaborated on the best ways; teachers can cope with official meetings. 

Course coordinators, Prof Sajid Jamal, Department of Education, and Dr SM Khan, Department of Psychology, elaborated how public speaking and communication skills are crucial for teachers, trainers and education staff.

Dr Faiza Abbasi, UGC HRDC, conducted the valedictory session which had English, Mathematics, Geography, Life sciences, Sanskrit, Urdu, Hindi and Persian school teachers as participants.