08 Days Online NEP 2020 Orientation and Sensitization Programme

The 8 days online-National Education Policy Programme (2020) was a great eye-opener for the course coordinator and the course participants. The programme is a joint initiative of UGC Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Centre, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh and BSA Crescent Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai. The Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Programme is laid down in the Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) of UGC.

The programme was basically meant for undergraduate and post graduate faculty members from central universities, state universities, affiliated colleges, constituent colleges, private colleges, polytechnic colleges and all higher education institutions. The sessions were handled through on- line mode using google meet platform and was scheduled in the afternoon, during off working hours. No duty leave was required to be obtained. Each session was scheduled for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Two sessions were fixed in a day and a total of 16 sessions were scheduled for 8 days. Twenty-two (22) participants, both from Crescent and from other universities participated in the programme (both lists provided below).

• Eminent Professors from Central Universities, Industry Professional and experts from Ministry of Education were chosen as speakers to provide orientation and sensitize participants on the various dimensions of National Education Policy (2020). On day 1-1st slot, we had Prof. Asiya Choudhary from the Department of Commerce, AMU, speaking on the importance of Entrepreneurship Development. She emphasized on the fact that we need to create more job providers rather than job seekers in order to increase the job employment opportunities every year, thereby contributing to India’s economy, which continues to remain as one of the fastest-growing economies of the world. The focus should be on becoming an entrepreneurial university. On day 1-2nd slot, Prof. Sajid Jamal from Department of Education, AMU pointed out that designing interesting and industry relevant curriculum and pedagogy would facilitate in the holistic growth of students.

• The 2nd day-1st slot and 3rd day-1st slot was on e-content creation. The session was conducted by Prof. Aasim Zafar from Dept of CSE, AMU. The speaker, very diligently touched upon several important topics such as need for on-line teaching, e-PG Pathshala, development of MOOC courses by university professors, funding for development of MOOC courses, Swayam platform for MOOCs, life-cycle of MOOC course etc. The participants found the sessions to be very useful and interesting. On 2nd day-2nd slot, Prof. MN Mustafa from School of Education, Central University of Kerala highlighted the complimenting role of teaching and research. He focused on ethics integrity value addition and quality when it comes to research.

• For day 3-2nd slot, Ms. Farha Haider, Data Scientist, Nokia, Canada was invited to speak on the significance of Integrating AI & Technology in Academic Curriculum, both at school and university level. She made it very clear that the students should start preparing themselves for a futuristic world where AI, Machine Learning, Robotics will be used extensively in businesses across the globe. A number of new jobs will be created in the place of old jobs which might soon become obsolete. She also underlined the fact that university-school connect and industry-school connect are equally important as industry-university connect, because the foundation needs to be strong right from school education. She pointed out the differences across countries with regard to integration of AI and technology in academic curriculum.

• The 4th day, slot 1 was handled by Prof. Masroor Alam, Dept. of Civil Engineering, ZHCET, AMU on the topic, Climate Change and Problem of Pollution. He stressed that people are not realizing the ill-effects that global warming and pollution would have on the entire world. He explained very clearly the concept of greenhouse effect, glacier melting, sea-level rising and increase in concentration of CO2, which demands our immediate attention. He said there is an urgent need to introduce a lot of courses on environmental sustainability for sensitization in schools and universities, conducting awareness program and carrying out research studies pertaining the same in order to avoid further damage to the planet.

• The 2nd slot of the 4th day was taken over by Prof. Nasreen, Department of Education, AMU, on Handling Student Diversity and Inclusive Education where she focused on the necessity to have diversity of students in educational institution. She also reiterated the need to create an environment where all students experience a sense of belongingness and are valued, respected, and safe. All students need to have equal access to learning opportunities, especially children with special need, from marginalized section and children in difficult circumstances as highlighted by NCF (National Curriculum Framework, India).

• On day 5, 1st slot, Prof. Anisur Rahman, JMI spoke on the Current Opportunities & Challenges of Higher Education in India and in the 2nd slot, Dr. Shaheer Siddiqui, Dept. of Education, AMU, spoke on Indian Pedagogy. Prof. Shaheer spoke about ancient evolution of pedagogy and how modern education is built on the foundation of the ancient education system. He started off with Shri Aurobindo’s Philosophy, the five levels of education and continued with Charles Darwin’s theory, the poems of Sufis, Upanishads, inspirations from Adi Shankara’s Vedanta, Swami Vivekananda’s teachings etc. He highlighted what was told by Shri Rabindranath Tagore that only education will give us freedom of mind, freedom of heart and freedom of will. His session was very inspiring and resourceful.

• On day 6th-1st slot, the session was on the topic Teacher Centric and Student Centric Approach, Prof. Asmer Beg from Dept. of Politics, AMU, explained very clearly that teaching students is like science, whether it is teacher centric approach or student centric approach or a combination of both, the teaching-learning should be on the basis of logic and fact. Only then education will have positive impact on students.

• The 6th Day-2nd slot was handled by Prof. Anjan Chakravarty, Director, UGC MMTTC, North Bengal University, Siliguri. He spoke about the significance of Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration. There is a compelling need to collaborate with other specializations in order to come out with better research findings and solutions to solve societal problems.

• The 7th day, slot 1 was conducted by Prof. Jasim Ahmad, IASE, Jamia Millia Islamia, on the topic Holistic & Multidisciplinary Education and slot 2 was handled by Dr. Shefali Nagpal, BPS Mahila University, Sonepet on the topic An Overview of Indian Knowledge System (Indigenous Knowledge). She shared that IKS is based on deep understanding of human beings, nature and existence. She gave example of Aurvedic medicines belonging to India’s traditional health care system.

• The last day, 1st session was handled by Dr. Shakila T. Shamsu, Officer on Special Duty (OSD), NEP, Ministry of Education, Govt of India, New Delhi. She spoke on Governance & Management of Higher Education as Envisaged in NEP 2020. Her session was very dynamic leading to a number of queries on the different facets of NEP (2020) from the participants. The speaker answered all the queries very patiently and clearly.

• The last session by Prof. Kidwai, former Director, UGC-HRDC, AMU was very experience driven and inspiring. His topic for deliberation was on “Academic Leadership”. This was the most important topic of the NEP programme, because, if an academic leader does not have the charisma and is not having the required traits and persona of a good leader, then the whole academic system fails, jeopardizing the growth and development of students, faculty members, society and country as a whole.

• The 8 days programme ended with a valedictory session by the team, AMU wherein feedback was provided by the participants. On the whole, the participants felt it was a very knowledge driven programme and appreciated every speaker for their amazing and expert lecture session. The Director of MMTTC, AMU, Prof. Faiza Abbasi congratulated the coordinator for the smooth execution of the programme. The participants also appreciated the coordinator of the programme for constantly keeping them interested and connected with the speakers.