Centre for Budget and Policy Studies (CBPS) conducted a one-day intensive teachers training workshop on 19 January 2021 in Patna under the Bihar Mentorship Project (BMP). The project is in its final transitioning phase between action-research and advocacy. As part of the first day, a training workshop for teachers from ten government schools of Patna and Muzaffarpur was organised. The training sessions were conducted by Jyotsna Jha, Director of CBPS. Mr Prasad Gummaluri and Neha Ghatak, Research Advisor at CBPS. Seventeen teachers attended and actively participated in the workshop. The workshop yielded a positive outcome, given that at the end of the training, teachers formulated school-wise plans for the next six months in order to address the challenges posed by Covid-19 restrictions on education and society at their respective schools. Teachers were trained in utilising the planners for teachers (along with postcards designed by the CBPS team) as both pedagogical and planning tools.
On 20 January 2021, a Dissemination cum Advocacy Workshop was organised in Patna. The workshop was facilitated by Jyotsna Jha and Neha Ghatak. Ms Neelam Choudhary, who is the Director of GPF at the Department of Finance, Bihar, was the Chief Guest at the workshop. She underscored her support to CBPS, especially in implementing the postcard initiative at the local level. Multiple officials from the Government of Bihar actively participated in the workshop. This included Mr Vinodanand Jha, Director of Research and Training and Officer on Special Duty to Department of Education, Government of Bihar, Mr Sanjay Kumar, SPO, BEPC, Mr Anil Kumar, Assistant Teacher, BEPS Education Department and Mr Sheo Shankar Prasad, BEPC, Department of Education, Bihar and Ms Archana Verma, Retd. as a State Program Officer, Bihar. Mr Syed Moin, currently UNICEF consultant and former faculty of State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) and former principal of what was considered a model District Institute of Education and Training (DIET)] is one of the members of the advisory committee for this project. He, along with state officials, have openly offered their support to CBPS in furthering efforts under the Bihar Mentorship Project. They have also shown deep appreciation for the unique Distance Learning Module introduced by CBPS during the lockdown in order to reach children who are disadvantaged by lack of access to schools. Specials compliments were given for introducing critical thinking to children through post cards, which is an innovative and offline yet low-cost effective pedagogical tool. Colleagues from civil society organisations and the media also attended the workshop.