Page 62 - EW April 2021

Special Report

Although the outbreak of the Coro- the Reliance Foundation. Other prizes provided by many of the country’s
navirus pandemic which forced the include opportunity to attend the Ox- much neglected teacher training col-
closure of all education institutions ford Teachers Academy Online Train- leges, there are millions of dedicated
for over 12 months dropped teachers’ ing Program and receive a certificate and high-potential teachers anxious to
morale to new lows, Venkatraman’s from Oxford University on comple- improve their subject and other com-
apprehension about loss of interest in tion; opportunity to conduct short- petencies. The annual Centa TPO and
Centa TPO 2020 proved unfounded. term research projects with mentor- other tests offered by Centa provide
“The valuable contribution of teach- ship from Buckingham University, teachers opportunity to test them-
ers to society has become more vis- UK; customised computer laptop/ selves, identify their weaknesses and
ible during the pandemic. Therefore, mobile phone awards from Lenovo; explore ways and means to bridge the
there was a substantial increase in technical training from Tech Mahin- gap. In Centa, we also recommend
the number of teachers ready to as- dra; and the three-volume English suitable professional development
sess themselves by signing up for TPO Speech & Pronunciation (2019) pub- programmes to teachers participat-
2020 which for the first time since its lished by EducationWorld Books. ing in our tests. With best teachers
inception in 2015, went fully online, With successful completion of being felicitated and celebrated every
enabling teachers abroad to also take the online Centa TPO 2020, Venka- year, I expect to witness a dramatic
the test,” she says. traman discerns an attitudinal shift improvement in the quality and social
The registration fee for TPO 2020 within school managements and the standing of teachers within the next
was Rs.950 per teacher per subject. teachers’ fraternity about the criti- decade,” says Venkatraman.
Subsequently, TPO national/sub- cal importance of improving teacher In pages following, we profile Centa
ject/regional rank holders (Top 200) competencies for career progression TPO 2020 teacher winners in 16 sub-
receive cash prizes ranging from and institutional reputation. “Despite jects, and also the Top 10 schools with
Rs.5,000-1 lakh and a citation from the poor quality of teacher training the largest number of TPO winners.

Centa TPO 2020 toppers

Tejas Suma Shyam Ural Sharma
Founder, The Education Journey, Mumbai Primary school teacher, Shiv Nadar School, Noida
Subject: Senior Secondary maths & physics #1 Subject: Online teaching and Primary School English #1
n alumnus of IIT- n English postgrad of
ABombay, Tejas Suma ALady Shri Ram Col-
Shyam is founder of The lege, Delhi, Ural Sharma
Educational Journey, is a former currency and
Mumbai, a firm provid- commodities trader who
ing offline and online quit the trading floor to
coaching for competitive teach underprivileged chil-
exams such as JEE Main, dren as a Teach For India
JEE Advanced, NEET fellow. After completing
and olympiads. Shyam the two-year fellowship
is also visiting faculty programme, she served as
at Symbiosis Centre for executive director of the
Management and Hu- CKS Foundation, which
man Resource Develop- works with children from underserved communities in
ment, Pune and the Narsee Monjee College of Commerce Delhi and Uttarakhand. Last year (October) she signed up
and Economics, Mumbai. with the Shiv Nadar School, Noida, as a primary teacher.
“I’m delighted to be India’s top-ranked physics and “It’s a wonderful surprise to be ranked #1 for online
maths teacher. In TPO 2019, I was ranked #1 for senior teaching because learning in this field has been based on
secondary chemistry. It feels good to complete a PCM hat- personal experimentation during the past pandemic year.
trick. The main reason I sign up for the rigorous Centa This and the #1 rank for primary English teaching has
TPO every year is for my students. I want them to believe boosted my confidence sky high. I wrote Centa TPO 2020
that if their teacher can strive for and achieve excellence, out of curiosity to test my own competence as a teacher,
so can they,” says Shyam. and was amazed at the rigour and comprehensiveness of

64 EDUCATIONWORLD APRIL 2021