The convocation ceremony for the South Asian Teacher Educators (SATE) Fellowship was held online on May 22nd,2023, marking the successful completion of an intensive fellowship that brought together teacher educators from Afghanistan, Maldives, and Nepal. This fellowship is part of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) funded project ‘A Multi-Modal Approach for Teacher Professional Development (MATPD) in Low Resource Settings’ led by Villa College.

Over the course of the fellowship, teacher educators underwent comprehensive face-to-face training, online webinars on distance teaching and learning methodologies, mentoring, ICT, and action research. More significantly, fellows have conducted action research with school teachers from their respective countries to find contextualized solutions in areas such as inclusive education, Math, science, language, and peace education, and used open educational resources as well. Furthermore, the fellowship aimed to develop reflective practices and create a research culture among teacher educators and teachers.

Educational stakeholders from the three countries attended the ceremony to celebrate fellows’ dedication and achievements. The chairperson of the Centre for Excellence in Teacher Education of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, Professor Padma Sarangapani mentioned that the fellowship has enabled to explore ideas to customize teacher professional development and the remarkable leadership of Villa College in the progress of the MATPD project. Additionally, the Rector of Villa College Dr. Ahmed Anwar mentioned the fellowship’s positive impact in narrowing the gaps in our education system and conveyed a special thanks to the MATPD team.

During the ceremony, fellows from each country were given the opportunity to share their experiences. They emphasized the valuable skills and knowledge they have gained and expressed gratitude for the opportunity.