About The Author - Dr J.S Nagra

Dr. Jagat Singh Nagra was born on 10 March 1938 at village Mehndpur district Nawanshahr in the Panjab. He got his BA degree in 1959, B.T. (Bachelor of teaching) in 1961 and M.A. in 1964 from the Panjab University Chandigarh.  In India he worked as a senior teacher, deputy head, headmaster, teacher-trainer and lecturer.

He came to Briton in 1968 and completed a post graduate teachers' training course at Warwick University (1969-70).  He worked as a mathematics teacher in a secondary school in Coventry from April 1970 to August 1972.  In September 1972 he joined a big comprehensive school and community college in Coventry where he worked till August 1989 and took various responsibilities such as a school counselor, head of the department of Asian studies and Asian Languages and taught Mathematics, Government and Politics Asian Studies and Panjabi.  He was also a sixth form tutor for more than ten years. Worked as a part-time lecturer at Warwick University for about three years (October 1986-June 1989).

In September 1989, he joined London Borough of Hounslow Education Department as Head of Service of Community Languages where he was responsible for the teaching and development of community languages in primary and secondary schools.  He took early retirement in August 1994 but the Education Department recommended him to do the Ofsted Inspectors' course and also paid his course fee.  He has been working as a school Inspector (Ofsted trained) since January 1996.

His rapid progress in the field of education is largely due to his hard work and gaining additional qualifications such as completing an Advanced Counseling Course (4 years part-time), studying at the University of Birmingham as a full time student for the degree of Master of Education (M.Ed), 1979-80 and in 1984 completing his Ph.D degree about 'Problems of teaching Panjabi in British Schools'.

Dr. Nagra has always taken a leading role in the field of curriculum development.  He designed the Certificate of Extended Education (CEE) Asian Studies Course for sixth formers in 1975 which was approved by West Midlands Examination Board.  There was no A' Level Panjabi examination before 1980 in Britain.  The first draft of A' Level Panjabi Syllabus was prepared by him which was approved by the Joint Matriculation Board in 1978 and the students from his school started A' Level Panjabi class and took A' Level examination in Panjabi in 1980 for the first time in Britain.  He was one of the leading members of the GCSE Panjabi Syllabus Development group (1985-86) appointed by the Examination Board.  He served as a chairman of the A Level Panjabi Syllabus Revision committee (1990-92 appointed by the Joint Matriculation Board.

He was a member of the National Curriculum Working Group set up by the Minister of Education on Modern Foreign Languages (1989-90).  He prepared three Mini Modules for Coventry University in 1995 which were accepted as part of the B.A degree. Recently Kings College London approved two short courses in Panjabi as part of undergraduate course which were also prepared by Dr. Nagra (2004).

Dr .Nagra has wide experience in the field of examinations with different Examination Boards. He has been a Chief Examiner in GCSE Panjabi since 1988.  He was the Chief Setter for the Panjabi Option in the A' Level General Studies Paper (1989-90), A' Level Panjabi examiner for ten years, examiner in Diploma in Community Languages (RSA), chief moderator for the Certificate of Secondary examination in Panjabi and Urdu from 1981-87.(West Midlands Examination Board).  Recently Dr Nagra has been appointed as an external examiner by Kings College, University of London.

 He was the chairman of the Preparatory Sub-Committee of O and A' Level Panjabi from 1985 to 1997, chairman of the Set Books Sub-Committee to recommend prescribed text books for A' Level Panjabi examination (1985-1997), member of the Subject -Committee for Modern Foreign Languages JMB 1984-1997).  He was also a member of the GCSE Panjabi Development Group (1987-89) and a member of the Appointments Committee of the Midlands Examining Group (1988-89)       .

He was deeply involved in many other organizations which aimed at improving the educational standards of students.  He was the chairman, general secretary of the Afro-Asian Teachers' Association in Coventry, member of the executive committee of Coventry Community Relations Council for seven years, executive committee member of the National Council for Mother Tongue Teaching for four years, member of National Council for Pastoral Care in Education for several years and education secretary of the Federation of Indian Organisations from 1981 to 85.

 Dr. Nagra organized many conferences and functions designed to facilitate greater mutual understanding between the host and ethnic minority groups.  An example of one such function occurred in July 1975 when he arranged an educational tour to India for the pupils, teachers and parents of Coventry.  This took place during six weeks of summer vacation.  There were altogether 42 members in the group which included seven English teachers and one English child.

He has written several research articles concerning the education of ethnic minority children in Britain.  He is the author of 13 Panjabi books and co-author (with his wife) of 5 books in Hindi.  These books are widely used in schools and colleges in Britain and in some other countries such as Canada, America, and Australia.