Senior Academic Lead (Literacy-Bangla) – The Ahvaan Trust

Ahvaan was established as a private not-for-profit Trust in 2010, specifically to build capacity in educators and develop their roles as mentors for the transmission of values, focusing on the impressionable pre-primary and primary years.

The Ahvaan Trust is looking for a Senior Academic Lead for Literacy- Bangla for a statewide Foundational Learning (FLN) program in Tripura under the guidelines of the central mandate NIPUN.

With the focus on NEP 2020, states will have to chalk out a 5-year roadmap to ensure that by the time children are 9 years old and are in Grade 3, they would have acquired proficiency in reading with understanding, making meaning of words, sentences and paragraphs, can apply themselves and do simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, understand the place value of numbers, to mention some of the competency areas.

Ahvaan has been working towards building the foundation of Pre-Primary education in the state. With the NIPUN mandate Ahvaan aims to concretize the integration of ECCE with FLN by covering the students of 3-9 years.

The Qualification Criteria for the position are:

1. A Bachelor’s / Master’s degree in Elementary Education / Education / Nursery Teachers’ Training from a recognized institute;

2. Minimum eight to ten years’ experience in teaching Primary Grades 1-3 and familiarity with Primary classroom environment, especially in the government school ecosystem;

3. Demonstrated ability to teach the first language (Bangla) in Primary classes with experiential learning method;

4. Demonstrated understanding of Bangla pedagogy and the approach to its teaching and learning;

5. Demonstrated ability to design Bangla curriculum for Grades 1-3, and detailed lesson plans, including bridge programs, to address learning loss of students

6. Prior experience of conducting teacher’s training

7. Prior experience of mentoring teachers, classroom observations and conducting demonstration classes with Grades 1-3 children, for the benefit of their class teachers

8. Ability to work together in teams efficiently and with empathy

9. Ability to have a working relationship with schools and teachers

10. The role will focus on Tripura and may require travelling to schools for situation assessment, field testing, etc

11. Communication skills – excellent oral and written communication skills in Bangla and English. Knowledge of Hindi and Kokborok will be an added advantage

12. Critical thinking, problem-solving and responsiveness- to be able to take decisions if required, based on the demands from the field;

13. Good IT skills- MS Office, Internet, etc. and email correspondence;

14. Prior experience of liaison with government departments and officials and ability to maintain liaison with the nodal person from DEE on need basis, to apprise department on progress of the program.

Key Responsibilities of the Academic Lead- Literacy (Bangla) would include, but not be limited to:

1. Curriculum Design: Supporting the Academic Anchor in maintaining a vibrant and responsive academic vertical of the NIPUN initiative on behalf of the Foundational Learning (FLN) Project Management Unit (PMU) set up in Tripura.

a. Designing ECCE integrated FLN Curriculum for Grades 1-3, detailed daily lesson plans for teachers and student workbooks

b. Designing Bridge programs for Grades 1-3 and all associated TLMs

c. Designing Assessment guidelines for students in Grades 1-3

d. Recommending appropriate supplementary Teaching Learning materials for the teaching of Bangla

2. Teacher Professional Development (TPD):

a. Supporting the design of the TPD framework for FLN teachers

b. Creating Training Needs Analysis for FLN teachers

c. Conducting training of Master Trainers and Mentors from the State Cadre

3. Review of FLN progress:

a. As part of the FLN PMU, participate in internal reviews of progress vs. tasks and timelines

b. Participate proactively in all state directed review sessions and committee meetings on the progress of the program

c. Regular communication with the central team and share all field related updates

4. Relationship Management: Develop and maintain positive relationships with the key government officials in charge of the academic aspects of the mission, by way of:

a. Regular communication and liaison with the state offices and respective officials as well as the internal reporting authority

b. Support to the identified state cadre

c. Prioritizing the fulfillment of program milestones as per the 5-year roadmap

d. Supporting the coordination and execution of all program related events

5. Reporting and Documentation: a. Maintaining programmatic (product development) records b. Collating and sharing updates on work, including field testing of curriculum, sample survey, etc. if any

6. Staying abreast of the field developments

7. Cognizant of timelines and a strong drive to honour them Essential qualities we are looking for in candidates who will be associated with this program:

• A belief that all children, regardless of their family’s social-economic background can realize their potential to achieve 3
• Persistence and determination
• Strong work ethic and high level of integrity · Willingness to work in a start-up environment
• Sensitivity towards different sections of society and the ability to get along with people irrespective of backgrounds
• A commitment to social change and desire to work in the school education sector
• Respect for the overall ethos of the organization they represent

Remuneration: The gross monthly remuneration would be in the range of 65K to 80K. However, it would be commensurate with qualifications, experience and project budgetary provisions.

Period of association: Selected candidates will be engaged for 4 years on a yearly renewable contract basis.

Application: Interested candidates may share their CV along with preferable time when they may be approached for an initial telephonic conversation, with samina@ahvaan.org