IGNOU launches PG Diploma in School Leadership and Managment

Kochi, July 28 (UNI) The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) today launched an innovative programme to equip school teachers with essential administration and management skills to work as effective leaders on becoming principals.

Launching the Post-Graduate Diploma in School Leadership and Management (PGDSLM) at a function here, IGNOU Vice-Chancellor V N Rajasekharan Pillai said the programme had been developed in collaboration with the education section of the Commonwealth Secretariat.

The innovative programme was being offered for the first time in the country in Kerala under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the IGNOU and the Kerala CBSE School Managements Association.

Explaining the rationale for the programme, Prof Pillai said it had been observed that while teachers excelled in the academic area, they were not very effective as administrators on becoming principals.

''This programme aims at developing essential skills and competencies needed for effective leadership and management to create a cadre of talented and competent principals and improve the capacity and peformance of schools,'' he added.

The IGNOU VC launched the programme by handing over a set of study materials to Kerala CBSE School Managments Association Director and Coordinator of the PGDSLM Programme Vasudevan Pillai.

The year-long programme consisted of five courses and an Extended Contact Programme.

Already, 262 candidates had been enrolled for the programme and the IGNOU was expecting a total enrolment of 300 candidates.

UNI