In a first of its kind, open education resources in Odia for teachers and teacher educators prepared under the TESS-India project led by The Open University, UK, were released on June 30 by School and Mass Education (SME) Secretary Usha Padhi.Eminent educationists, think tank members of the SME Department and UNICEF Education Specialist lalita Pattnaik were present.The original English materials were developed by eminent Indian and UK authors.The English materials were reviewed by aMHRD constituted International review panel comprising both Indian and international experts.The English version got localised in Odia by teacher educators from SCERT and reviewed by experts from RIE and SCERT.
TE and SCERT Director AB Ota facilitated the occasion. Regional Program Manager, TESS- India Project Amarjit Jena submitted the open educational resources to the Government on behalf of The Open University, UK.These teacher reference resources are flexible, adaptable and modifiable open resources which demonstrate active learning pedagogies through practice in science, mathematics and English for secondary and elementary classes.All these materials were carefully translated and localized to incorporate State-specific terms and contexts for easy understanding and use. In addition to print version, these units will be available online as open educational resources (OERs) that are free to be versioned and used in a variety of ways by teacher educators and teachers.
Other formats in which they will be available include video film on SD cards and other web resources.TESS-India, which is a project supported by UK aid under Government of India and Government of UK collaboration, has plans to contribute to the school education in the country through its partnership with Central and State Governments. It is now operational in seven focus States such as Odisha, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Karantaka and Uttar Pradesh. The project is working closely with SCERTs, DIETs, NGOs, State Open Universities, and National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NEUPA).