IIM Calcutta, WBCHSE collaborate for leadership development training of school heads

KOLKATA: The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education has collaborated with the IIM Calcutta for leadership development training for head teachers of state government-run and-aided schools, officials said on Monday. The first batch of the second edition of the leadership programme was held on June 17-18 at the IIM-C campus.

The first edition of the programme was organised in 2021-22, and it provided training to 985 head teachers across West Bengal over five batches, an IIM-C statement said. In the second edition this year, the aim is to impart leadership development training for over 2,000 head teachers, the statement said.

When contacted, West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education President Chiranjib Bhattacharya said that the two-day training programme in a few batches was attended by heads of institutions across the state. The collaboration was done with financial support from the state school education department. "The objective of the training programme is to equip the participants with necessary skills and strategies to enhance their leadership and management skills, which, in turn, could make them more productive in their day-to-day work," he said.

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The leadership programme was conducted by IIM Calcutta professors R Rajesh Babu, Chetan Joshi and Sumanta Basu. IIM-C's Consultancy and Management Development Programmes (CMDP) Chairperson Prof Peeyush Mehta was quoted as saying that this programme will have a significant impact on the school education ecosystem.

"The contents of this programme are curated for senior teachers and administrative heads of the schools in West Bengal. This adds to a wide portfolio of leadership development programmes offered by IIM Calcutta," the statement said. Empowering and motivating the heads of schools to take a lead role and be the change agent for their educational institutes and community will be the key focus of the programme, Joshi said. Basu talked about the focus given by IIM-C to make a social impact through its executive education and said this leadership development programme for the school heads will take forward this initiative.