Mysuru: A  five-day training-cum-workshop  on Testing & Evaluation and Item  writing for Telugu Assistant Professors and Research Scholars of South India, was held at National Testing Service-India (NTS-I) of Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru, recently.

Dr. L. Ramamoorthy, RRO of CIIL and Head, LDC-IL (Linguistic Data Consortium for Indian Languages), in his inaugural address, emphasised the need to develop analytical knowledge and critical thinking in the educational system of India.

“To achieve this, we have to come out of the traditional tests of memory and develop systems to test higher order thinking process — analysis, synthesis and creation.” In this connection, he observed that following a uniform syllabus and uniform examination pattern would contribute to the qualitative improvement in education.

Further, he added that from primary to research level, we should eradicate the fear for examination among the student community. The NTS-I is focusing on this aspect of examination and has come out with many research findings so as to improve the quality of education.

Prof. P. Perumalsamy, Professor-Cum-Deputy Director of CIIL and Head in-charge, NTS-I, briefed about the objectives of the workshop. He highlighted the importance  of understanding the theories and practice of language testing and evaluation.

Dr. M. Narayana Reddy, Junior Resource Person-Academic, welcomed. Dr. R. Shakunthala,  Junior Resource Person-Academic, proposed a vote of thanks.

Prof. KVVL Narasimha Rao and Prof. N. Nadaraja Pillai, both former faculties of CIIL, Mysuru; Prof. Muniratnam Naidu, Project Director, Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Telugu (CESCT), CIIL, Mysuru; NTS-I faculty members Dr. V. Ilangovan, Dr. Biresh Kumar, Dr. R. Shakunthala, Dr. M. Narayana Reddy, Dr. Md. Saleem Ahmed and Dr. N. Murali Mohan trained the participants together with external experts in various sessions of the workshop.

Dr. R. Shakunthala and Dr. M. Narayana Reddy were the coordinators under the overall guidance of Prof. P.R. Dharmesh Fernandez, Head, NTS-I and Pankaj Dwivedi, Officer-in-charge, NTS-I. Prof. D. G. Rao, Director, CIIL, Mysuru, was overall patron of the workshop.

Thirty-six Assistant Professors and Research Scholars, who are engaged in teaching/research of Telugu, from various Universities and Colleges of South India participated in this                                              training workshop.