With a focus on building peaceful and inclusive societies through Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), UNESCO MGIEP launched two of its projects during a Teacher Capacity Building Workshop held in New Delhi from 15th to 18th April 2019. These include courses on Digital Intercultural Exchange (DICE) Phase III and Global Citizenship designed for adolescents in the age group of 12 to 14 years. Both the courses build knowledge around contemporary global issues and impart essential SEL skills such as Empathy, Mindfulness, Compassion and Critical Inquiry.

Starting May 2019, both the programmes are being implemented across four countries, ten schools each, as part of the first phase of implementation. In order to familiarise and prepare the teachers for effectively running these programmes in their respective schools, forty master teachers from Bhutan, Sri Lanka, South Africa and India, were invited to the training.

During the four days of the workshop, all teachers were oriented to MGIEP’s digital learning platform CHI (Collective Human Intelligence) and given hands-on experience of both the courses- DICE and Global Citizenship.

A teacher from India was of the opinion that “The way it (the content) was put across the platform was wonderful”. Teachers from Bhutan felt that it was a “well-designed curriculum that evokes the heart” and that “The story (as part of the course) lets you widen your thinking horizon”.

Teachers not only spent time taking the modules as learners but also provided extensive feedback as well as planned their own lessons around the same.

On the fourth day of the workshop, teachers sat together in subject groups to design and create their own lessons on the digital platform CHI. Apart from this, they were also given an overview of the implementation plan and the research design for both the projects. Teachers perceived the programmes as relevant and enriching for their students and saw alignment between these courses and subjects such as Social Sciences, Sciences, Math, English, Life Skills. “It certainly addresses the core values which we want to imbibe in our students. It’s very interactive and engaging. The language is relevant for adolescents”, expressed a teacher from South Africa. The educators left the workshop feeling enthused and enriched, making connections and memories from their time spent together in Delhi.

All event photos can be viewed here - https://bit.ly/2OfqQ9K

Watch the participants have fun in a short video here - https://bit.ly/2SD3I3m