International Conference on “Gandhi’s Concept of Education and National Education Policy 2020: Idea, Opportunity, and Implementation” held

New Delhi: SGT University, Gurugram, in coordination with Sanrachna Foundation and Shiksha Sanskriti Uthan Nyas organized an international conference on “Gandhi’s Concept of Education and National Education Policy 2020: Idea, Opportunity, and Implementation” at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Teen Murti Bhawan, New Delhi from July 20 to 21.

The event also included a Vice-Chancellors’ Conclave on Day 2 of the conference.

Here is a detailed report on the event by Khushi Kesari, a Delhi University student.

No event is planned in a single day, rather days and weeks go into its preparation. What we saw over the past two days was the culmination of that hard work. Over the course of these two days, we not only heard eminent personalities and scholars but also got a chance to interact with them.

On 20th July, the event began with the lamp lighting ceremony and the Saraswati Vandana. The inaugural session was graced by Prof. Dinesh Singh and Dr Sachidanand Joshi, who shared their stories and views on the theme of the event. Mr. Amogh Dev Rai, Director, Sanrachna Foundation, gave insight on Mahatma Gandhi’s views on education and how the NEP-2020 attempts to translate his vision into reality.

A total of 7 seminars/sessions took place over the course of the event.

The first session of the event was on the theme “Gandhi and historical tradition”. Prof. Anand Prakash, Prof. Seema Bawa and Prof Santosh Rai shared their views. They deliberated upon various topics such as how there has been an evolution in visual culture when it comes to

Gandhi, how the Gandhian approach to life can become an altering experience and how there needs to be a change in the mindset of the student and teacher alike. Col. Partha Pratim Dubey chaired the session and shared his ideas on education and Gandhi.

The first session was followed by a session on the theme “Cluster Education Innovation and Experiments: Delhi University and FYUP 2013-2014” Prof Madan M Chaturvedi, Prof Shobha Bagai and Prof Jyoti Sharma graced the session while Dr Veerendra Mishra chaired it. The session focused upon how cluster innovation centres provide more flexibility and encourage students to experiment and learn from those experiments. Prof Dinesh sir in his previous address mentioned that the aim of education is not to cover the courses but rather discover it. CIC draws a lot from this idea and encourages students to start start-ups. Students from Delhi University shared their stories of start-ups and encouraged the audience to think towards a more free-flowing education system.

The third and the final session of the day was graced by Prof Jawarlal Kaul and Mr Amogh Dev Rai. They deliberated on how Gandhi has played a part of the larger vision as an innovator, economist and tool to turn the wheels of change. Prof Kaul explained that the aim of a good

education is to make and produce a good human being. One needs to understand that education needs to be in tune with the needs of society. Prof Kaul correlated it with the Gandhian education concept and showed how it does not remain stagnant but rather provides ideas for innovations.

All the guest speakers, moderators and chairs were felicitated with mementoes, certificates and books. The first day concluded with the conference dinner.

The second day of the event began with even more enthusiasm and zeal. Seldom do we chance upon a conference where Vice Chancellors of renowned Universities come together to deliberate and discuss upon various aspects of National Education Policy 2020 and the evolution in the education system. This session was embarked upon by Shri Vinay

Sahasrabuddhe, who put an emphasis on the soft powers of our country and how they can help bring opportunities to the nation. He talked about how we can enhance education and make India an education hub. Prof. Umesh Rai, University of Jammu; Prof. Bechan Lal, Cluster University, Jammu; Prof. C. B. Sharma, IGNOU: Prof (Br) OP Kalra, SGT University along with Prof Dinesh Singh as the moderator, discussed the changing face of education, how the teacher taught relation needs to improve, how education in sync with Gandhian concept can bring about a change and talked how NEP can be the changing face of the future education. The floor was open for discussion and the audience asked questions and gave their comments on the discussion which happened. The session concluded with Dinesh sir felicitating the speakers and

guests.

The second session of the day focused on “Gandhi’s Concept of Education, Philosophy and religious ideas”. Prof. Prakash Narayan chaired the session and Prof. Ritesh K Singh, Prof. Amit K Suman and Prof. Shalin Jain were the respected speakers. Prof. Ritesh K Singh

highlighted Gandhi’s life journey and philosophy while Prof. Amit K Suman commented upon Gandhi’s education ideas which were inspired by indigenous knowledge systems of the country emphasising self-sustainable village society which forms the core crux of NEP. Prof. Shalin Jain talked about Gandhi’s religious ideas and the Jain system of philosophy reflected in education.

The third session of the day saw an interesting take upon science and education. Dr. B.Khamar chaired the session and Prof. Sandhya Vasudevan moderated it. Prof Unnat P. Pandit, Prof. Rakesh Pandey, Dr Parikshit Manhas and Shri Sopan Joshi discussed on the concept of

proactive action, not compromising on quality and benchmark, defining ‘intellectual property and learning with an open mind and adopting knowledge from various disciples. They also touched upon Gandhi’s relevance in other walks of life. It also sparked an interesting debate

among the panel. The session was concluded with the felicitation of the speakers and guests.

The last session of the day and the event saw two eminent speakers. Prof. Vandana Saxena and Prof Douglas Allan Joined us online. Prof. Vandana Saxena talked about Gandhi’s philosophy

toward education and emphasised that more focus should be given to competence rather than content. She also talked about the social and economic diversity of India reflected in NEP. Prof Douglas Allan explored the interpretations of Gandhian thoughts and the different dimensions of violence – highlighting its interaction and effect on education. The enlightening discussion concluded with expressing heartfelt thanks to the speakers.

The second day thus concluded successfully making the event an overall success.

(This report on the conference was written and read by Khushi Kesari from the University of Delhi, on behalf of SGT University, Sanrachan Foundation and Shiksha Sanskriti Uthan Nyas.)