On the occasion of Mahaparinirvana Diwas on Friday, a two-day workshop was inaugurated on 6th and 7th December 2024 at Baba Saheb Ambedkar Convention Center, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi. This workshop was organized by Indira Gandhi National Open University in collaboration with Guru Ghasidas University Bilaspur, All India Council for Technical Education and ShikshaSanskritiUtthanNyas. The main theme of the workshop was Management and National Education Policy-2020. The workshop was inaugurated by IGNOU Vice Chancellor Prof. Uma Kanjilal by lighting the lamp along with the guests.
The program was presided over by IGNOU Vice Chancellor Prof. Uma Kanjilal. As the chief guest, All India Council for Technical Education President Prof. T.G. Sitaram and as the special guest and keynote speaker, National Secretary of Shiksha Sanskriti UtthanNyas Dr. Atul Kothari were present on the occasion. Along with this, Vice Chancellor of Guru Ghasidas University Prof. Alok Kumar Chakrawal, former Vice Chancellor of Indira Gandhi National Open University Prof. NageshwarRai, President of South Asian University Prof. K.K. Agarwal, General Secretary of Association of Indian Universities Prof. Pankaj Mittal, National Convenor of Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas Dr. Jayendra Singh Jadhav, Dr. Ajay Jain, Dr. Vijita Agarwal, Dr. Shaifali, Prof. Rakesh Joshi, Workshop Convenor Dr. Alok Chaubey, Co-Convenor Dr. Pavanesh Kumar, Organizing Secretary Prof. Rajiv Kumar Shukra and many other dignitaries were present.
The chief guest of the program, Prof. T.G. Sitaram, while highlighting the new education policy, called it a revolutionary change. Along with this, he told about the Anuvaadini tool prepared by the Ministry of Education. He said that through this tool, any language of India can be translated into Sanskrit as well as many other languages. The professor said that we are the youngest country in the world. If we use it positively, then we will definitely fulfill the dream of developed India by 2047.
The keynote speaker of the program, Dr. Atul Kothari, while discussing the courses being run in the universities of India, said that there is no sense of Indianness in the curriculum here. It is said that the syllabus should also be reviewed. Along with this, the syllabus should not be prepared only according to today but also keeping in mind the changes and challenges of the future. Giving an example, Dr. Kothari says that the education of any country should be in culture, nature, progress. He says that there should be an adjustment of physical, economic and human power in the syllabus. This will prepare meaningful managers in the country. Emphasizing on today’s time, Dr. Kothari says that today is the era of competition. Therefore, stress management, financial management, environmental management, health management, family management, time management etc. should also be included in the syllabus. In the end, the basis of Indian is collectivism. Emphasizing this, he says that now is the time to work in a team. Everyone should be taken along.
Along with this, other speakers present in the workshop also expressed their views. In this, Dr. Jayendra Singh Jadhav and Prof. Pankaj Mittal expressed their views on how the Indian knowledge tradition can be connected with management. Both the speakers explained by giving meaningful examples of management from many incidents of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Prof. Alok Chakrawal said that if we hold on to our culture, then there will be no country better than India in terms of management. He further said that I am confident that by 2047 India will remain a developed nation. Prof. K.K. Agarwal said that the entire management is in Mahabharata, Gita and Ramayana. We just need to understand. Prof. Nageshwar Rao says that always look at change in a positive way. He says that a student of management never remains unemployed. During this workshop, among many other speakers, Dr. Anmolika Watal – PhD Scholar Public Health IIHMR,Jaipur, former Assistant Professor Delhi University and Faculty at Shri Vishwakarma Skill University, as a technical presenter presented the agenda points for NEP 2020 in the perspective of public health and emphasized on dropout rates in relation to health issues. And serious public health concerns related to Inclusivity have also been addressed which is quite alarming which was presented for adoption in NEP 2020. Her concluding statement was that we all have to act as the building blocks and pillars for the development of the nation to work towards the Vikasit Bharat-2047.
At the same time, in the closing session of the workshop, the organizers including Prof. Pavnesh from IGNOU told that a total of 303 people from 20 states had registered in the workshop. Out of which representatives of 165 institutions of India participated. These participants included 163 men and 140 women. A total of 52 papers were presented in the closing session of this workshop. Through these papers, all the participants have given their suggestions. These suggestions mainly advocate the inclusion of Indian knowledge tradition in the curriculum.
On the occasion of the closing of the workshop, Vice Chancellor of Indira Gandhi National Open University, Prof. Uma Kanjilal says that the focus has been on leadership development in India’s new education policy. At the end of the workshop, IGNOU Registrar Dr. Alok Chaubey said in his statement that the basic spirit of the new education policy is language. After this, he thanked all the respected speakers from the bottom of his heart.
