JOURNEY OF SCHOOL LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

The National Centre for School Leadership (NCSL), NIEPA, New Delhi, established the School Leadership Academy (SLA) at the State Institute for Educational Management and Training (SIEMAT), Dehradun, Uttarakhand, for school leadership activities in 2017. The School Leadership Academy started functioning in March 2017 in a phased manner. SLA began its work by appointing staff, organising School Leadership Development Programmes (SLDPs) for school heads and principals, undertaking curriculum development, and organising a one-month certificate course and other training programmes for State Resource Groups to enhance the leadership capacities of school leaders.
Since its establishment, SLA Uttarakhand has been contributing to various leadership training programmes for heads of schools, educational officers, administrative and ministerial staff, State Resource Group members, and other functionaries. Under the theme of Continuous Professional Development, every year since 2017, SLA has been conducting six-day in-service training programmes for school heads of elementary and secondary schools on school management, financial management, and other need-based educational issues.
SLA has developed self-learning training modules for school heads and has also documented success stories on the transformation of schools by their heads. SLA Uttarakhand has organised webinars and seminars on key themes of the National Education Policy–2020. The State Resource Group (SRG), SLA Uttarakhand, developed capacity-building training modules for heads of Atal Utkrisht Vidyalayas and Eklavya Vidyalayas and conducted six-day courses for these schools.
SLA Uttarakhand has also been engaged in the development of the State School Curriculum Framework for the foundational stage as well as school education, with the support of SCERT and SIEMAT. SLA Uttarakhand conducted research studies on the effectiveness of DIETs, including an evaluation study of Atal Utkrisht Vidyalayas of Uttarakhand.
In addition, SLA Uttarakhand has developed several educational documents, such as the transfer policy for school heads and teachers, restructuring frameworks for DIET, SCERT, and SIEMAT, criteria and norms for state-level teacher awards, draft documents on school timetables and leave rules in Uttarakhand, and qualitative ACR norms and formats for school heads and teachers.
SLA organises a one-month certificate course for secondary-level school principals and also conducts ten-day SRG training programmes for district-level resource persons under school leadership programmes. Government and government-aided school heads also participate in online programmes designed by NCSL–NIEPA.
All 13 District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) function as nodal agencies for school leadership programmes at the district level. They organise SLDP activities for elementary- and secondary-level school heads and principals in their respective districts.
During the COVID period, SIEMAT organised a five-day training course on “Hybrid Mode Learning and Digital Education” under the Continuous Professional Development Programme (CPDP) for school heads. It also developed a refurbished curriculum for school education and conducted online training programmes on stress-free learning and motivational issues during the pandemic period. This training was imparted through more than 500 virtual labs situated in different secondary schools across the state. A centrally located school education studio (virtual studio) was used as a platform for course trainers and resource persons.
SLDP training packages and curricula designed by NCSL–NIEPA are also being localised as per the needs of the state. SLA Uttarakhand continues to enhance the leadership capacities of school leaders through various leadership programmes.