(ANS - El Obeid) - Between the end of June and the beginning of July, the Salesian NGO "International Voluntary Service for Development" (VIS) conducted a training workshop on psycho-pedagogical techniques for teachers in primary schools and some junior secondary schools that collaborate with the "Don Bosco Vocational Training" Centre (DBVTC) in El Obeid.

VIS is in Sudan from 2006 and was set up in El Obeid in early 2013 to carry out retraining and upgrading in the education and training offered by DBVTC and its network of partners.

The programme sprang from the network of sharing and collaboration of the members of the Diocese of El Obeid, thanks, in particular, to the initiative of the Vicar General, Fr Fillimon, and Fr Peter Mugo SDB, a Councillor in the Sudan Delegation of the East Africa Province. VIS staff were involved in a training programme for teachers in the "Comboni Primary School" and the "Comboni Victoria Basic School", many of whom had not yet had the opportunity to upgrade their psycho-pedagogical skills.

The workshop was attended by 50 teachers, divided into two classes, taken respectively by psychologist Nasreen Hassan, trainer with the Sudanese Ministry of Health, and psychologist Jafar Mahmud, trainer with the NGO "Jasmar." The course lasted a week, with five lessons of four hours each.

The training was based on what the teachers asked for, answering the questions they themselves put and taking account of their everyday experience of work and aspects of their daily lives.

Four main themes were singled out, thanks also to the help of Dr Monica Tomassoni:

• Aspects of Trauma Counselling - to foster teachers' skills in listening to students in situations of risk;
• Communication;
• Classroom management and teaching methods;
• Stress management.

 The methodology was a blend of lectures, discussions, group work and "role play" centred on the individual teacher's experience.

Published on 08/07/2013