This programme is intended for persons employed as or aspiring for employment as laboratory technicians in school or college laboratories.

At present, no academic programme is available in our country to train such people through the distance mode.

This academic programme has been designed to train laboratory supporting staff in appropriate procedures for organizing and maintaining school/college laboratories.

The curriculum for the programme was developed in an International Workshop organised by the School of Sciences, IGNOU in collaboration with The Commonwealth of Learning, Vancouver, Canada and The Commonwealth Secretariat, London.

Programme Objectives

The broad objectives of this programme are to:

• Familiarise the learners with the basic facilities available in school and college level Biology, Chemistry and Physics laboratories;
• Impart knowledge of the basics of organisation and management of science laboratories;
• Train the learners in the operation and maintenance of simple instruments used in science laboratories;
• Enable them to develop skills in common laboratory techniques;
• Train them in the procedures of procurement and storage of laboratory equipment and materials;
• Enable them to adopt appropriate disposal procedures and safety methods suitable for laboratories.

Instructional System

The instruction package consists of:

• Print materials
• Audio/video programmes
• Laboratory work and theory counselling sessions. Depending on enrolment, these will be held at the chosen study centres throughout the country.

Attendance in theory counselling is optional whereas it is compulsory for practicals.

Assessment

The assessment of theory courses will be through term-end examinations. These will be conducted twice a year in June and December. The practical courses will have assessment of day-to-day experiments as well as of the experiments assigned at the end of each practical course.