RAJKOT GUJ: As a part of the 125th anniversary celebration of Ramakrishna Mission, a seminar on NEP 2020 & Value Education was organized on Sunday, 20th August 2023. Around 500 people including educationists, principals, teachers, and students participated. The program consisted of speeches by eminent educators, audio-visual, question-answer session, and feedback by the participants. The program was also live streamed on the YouTube channel of the Ashrama.
Swami Nikhileshwarananda, Adhyaksha of Shri Ramakrishna Ashrama, Rajkot, introduced the seminar and speakers. He explained how the ideas of Swami Vivekananda are echoed in the NEP 2020. He said that the seminar had been organized to acquaint the participants with the ideas on value education prevalent in NEP2020andenable themtoface the challengesin implementation of NEP2020.
Dr. Kamlesh Joshipura, Director General, SDVP Research Institute, Pune, in his speech detailing NEP 2020, said that after 34 years, anew education policy is being implemented. Most importantly, Swami Vivekananda’s ideas about education are included in this. Dr. Radhakrishnan Commission and then many other commissions highlighted that if there is no spirituality in education, then the child does not grow. This has been well taken care of in the new policy.
Prof. (Dr.) Manu Vora, Chairman and President, Business Excellence, Inc., USA, who was also a member of the AICTENEP2020 Implementation Plan Strategy Committee, joined the seminar online from USA. He threw light on how NEP 2020 can effectively be implemented. He said NEP 2020 implementation is a transformational journey–a wartime hawk eye is essential for its implementation. He elaborated the challenges in NEP 2020 implementation, its project structure and implementation action plan for Gujarat. He emphasized the need of students’ involvement in community service and inclusion of Soft Skills in all curricula.
Shri Gulabbhai Jani, Founder and Director, Sister Nivedita Educational Complex, Rajkot talked about his experiments on value education, told how he was inspired by Rev. Swami Atmasthanandaji Maharaj to start primary education on the occasion of Sister Nivedita’s birth centenary. He said that the only aim of education is to make a good human being. He also cited many examples of their students who not only achieved success in their career but exhibited values in the challenging situations of life.
Shri Mansukhbhai Salla, President, Gujarati Kelavani Parishad, talked on pillars of education. He said that the NEP 2020 is a dream, which is to be realized by us by its implementation. Teachers, schools, and colleges need more independence to decide school syllabus and administration. We have failed in implementing suggestion of six committees on education. It is the role of educational institutions to impart skill for earning bread as well as necessary values, he added.
Swami Vedanishthananda, Spiritual Director (Designate), Vedanta Society, Geneva, Switzerland, explained the difference and similarities between Swami Vivekananda’s ideas and NEP 2020. He said we have kept away basic concepts of SanatanParampara evenin thenew education policy. At the same time, certain ideas included in NEP 2020 like connecting students with local culture, character development, etc. match with the ideas of Swami Vivekananda.
Dr. Bhadrayu Vachhrajani, Former Vice-Chancellor, Lokbharati University for Rural Innovation, Sanosara spoke on reformation of values. He spoke about approaches to value education and sources of values and value education. He emphasized that right from the policymakersto the lowestpersonin hierarchy all should have only one mission of making the NEP 2020 successful.
Dr. Navin Sheth, former Vice-Chancellor of Gujarat Technological University delivered the concluding speech and summarized the important points discussed by the speakers. He also answered the questions of the participants.
Besides the speeches, inspiring videos related to education were shown during the seminar in Audio-visual session. The question-answer session was very interesting and useful for the participants. All the participants were given a set of books related to education and Swami Vivekananda. The feedback of the program was excellent as evident from the feedback forms filled up by the participants.
India Post News Service
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