School heads get leadership training as WB government collaborates with IIM-Calcutta

Kolkata: The West Bengal school education department has collaborated with the IIM Calcutta for leadership development training for head teachers of state government-run and-aided schools, according to a statement issued 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. West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education, which conducts the Class-12 state board exams, is also part of the collaborative exercise. In the second edition this year, the aim is to impart leadership development training for over 2,000 head teachers, the statement said.

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The leadership programme will be directed 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.

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Babu noted that the heads of schools play a critical role in transforming the life and experience of the future generation, fellow teachers and the community at large. 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.