2. Equity as a theme  Sensitivity in addressing ways to make education inclusive so as to empower every child  A dynamic, evolving phenomenon  Helps System, Schools & Teachers to become responsive to address diverse needs of students, enhance their participation in and benefits from education  especially girls,  children with special needs

3. Need to deliberate on Equity  A need to interpret how equity will manifest in:  socio political situation and social discourse  in policies  In systems  in action within classroom pedagogy and practice  Role of teacher development institutions  Capacities, skills, sensitivity needed in teaching that are required to realize equity as a pathway to reach the goal of equality, the aspired democratic value

4. Focus of the Seminar  Within the context of RTE Act 2009, NCF 2005 and NCFTE 2009.  provide a platform to share experiences (international/national research, thematic papers, best practices, field level experiences of practitioners & teachers  exchange lessons and best practices on teachers’ role in context of education with equity  Facilitate dialogue between policy makers, researchers, practitioners, teacher educationists, international/national level experts working in the sphere of equitable education  to share  arrive at workable responses to the challenges for equity in education

5. Specific Objectives  Understand existing status, recent efforts and gaps in meeting educational equity targets.  Understand linkages between teacher’s beliefs, attitudes, practices and educational outcomes of children from diverse contexts and marginalized groups  Develop evidence based understanding on factors that influence teachers’ beliefs, attitudes and practices in school-classrooms.  Share best practices in promoting teachers effectiveness in delivery and practice of equitable education in schools  Arrive at evidence based issues & way forward to promote realization of educational equity through teacher development  Generate awareness around system’s accountability in supporting teacher to ensure equitable education  Initiate the process of developing a roadmap for strengthening teachers’ role in ensuring equity in schools across all States and UTs in India

6. 7 Themes  Understanding and addressing issues of equity and diversity in Teacher Education and Classroom Practice  Preparing and strengthening Teacher Development institutions, systems and curricula to address Equity and Diversity in the school context  Curriculum and Pedagogy Issues  Teacher Beliefs Attitudes and Practices: Equity and Diversity  Promoting Teacher Accountability  Strengthening teacher support and monitoring systems (community and educational administrators)  Glimpses from the Ground: Best practices, Teacher narratives, Institutional narratives, Video clippings and Researches around Equity issues  Reflection by Participants (on their own beliefs, attitudes and practices)  Limitations: overwhelming issues and themes. Certain themes need intensive deliberations and will be taken up further for eg children with special needs…

7. Limitation  Children with special needs to be intensively focused in separate deliberation

8. Modality  Panel discussion  Sessions on broader themes: 8  parallel sessions for intensive and focused discussions.  weave in research along with policy related discussions  bring in more evidence based insights to inform policy and program discussions

9. Participants  150 participants (55 residential participants)  National level senior policy makers, administrators, researchers, practitioners and professionals particularly from teacher education institutions in India.  state representatives namely- State Project Directors (SSA), Pedagogy coordinators, officials from the SCERT/DIET  Teachers  50 Resource persons  6 international experts and researchers

10. Expected Outcomes  Develop a shared understanding of the status, issues and challenges related to the delivery of educational equity in classrooms at the elementary stage of education  Learn from evidence based studies, initiatives and best practices (from various parts of India/international) that promote the realization of educational equity at the elementary stage of education  Derive specific issues/way forward for practice to promote and improve the status of equity in elementary schools in India  Initiate thinking towards arriving at a broad road map for strengthening teachers’ role in ensuring equity in schools across all States and UTs in India  Identify themes and locations for follow up deliberations