Pupil Teachers' Perception about School Internship : Issues & Challenges

The teacher is the heart of the school system. For quality education to children, formal education system needs qualified and professional responsible teachers. To prepare professional teachers, Teacher Education program is the means. During B.Ed Program practice teaching of B.Ed students in real classroom conditions is an integral part. Prospective teachers need to undergo School Internship for quality enhancement. The present study aims to examine the perception of B.Ed students towards teaching practice experience(school internship). A research methods approach using google form questionnaire to gather the experiences related to practice teaching and challenges faced during school internship program was carried out to 300 second year(fourth semester) B.Ed students from various B.Ed colleges of Uttarakhand State. The findings indiczate that the students teachers had a strong positive perception about school internship as an important part of B.Ed program, where they learn to teach by experimential learning in real classroom situations. The student internship program also prepared the for the real world of school education. The results further revealed that about 70% pupil teachers agreed that the school internship program was an enriching experience. The main challenges faced were- Lack of resources and material and planning and preparation of lesson plan.The present paper discusses in detail the findings and recommendations for school internship to make it an effective experience