National Convention on Value Education through Jeevan Vidya, IIT Delhi

National Convention on Value Education through Jeevan Vidya, IIT Delhi
(22 May to 24 May 2007)
Summary and Final Recommendations

A National Convention on Value Education through Jeevan Vidya (JV) was organised at IIT Delhi by the joint efforts of IIT Kanpur, IIIT Hyderabad and IIT Delhi between May 22 to 24. The Convention was inaugurated by H.E. the President of India and it was attended by the heads, faculty and students of about 50 technical institutes including IITs, IIITs and NITs, and people from the industry and social groups with the total number of participants getting around 1000 in the inaugural session and around 300 in the subsequent sessions. At the Convention, it was felt that Value Education (VE) should be incorporated in education, in general, and technical education, in particular. It was recommended that VE must satisfy the four criteria: it should be (a) Universal,
therefore secular and non-sectarian, (b) Rational, that is, based on reasoning, (c) Verifiable through experience and experimentation, and (d) Leading to harmony within humanity and with nature, and it should be conducted without preaching.

The panel discussions highlighted the need for VE in the country and concluded that JV satisfies the above criteria, therefore, VE courses based on JV should be designed. A national committee was formed to guide VE through JV. It will present the recommendations to AICTE and Ministry of HRD, work to develop the resource material, disseminate JV to the academic community and will help provide faculty training in VE through JV.

Final Recommendations

1. Value Education (VE) should be incorporated in education, in general, and technical education, in particular.
2. VE must satisfy the following criteria. It should be:
· Universal, therefore secular and non-sectarian.
· Rational, that is, based on reasoning
· Verifiable – through experience & experimentation
· Leading to harmony within humanity and with nature, and it should be conducted
without preaching.
3. It can be seen that Jeevan Vidya (JV) satisfies the above criteria. Therefore, VE courses based on JV should be designed. Design of such courses may also be explored using other alternative perspectives.
4. A national committee on VE through JV should be formed to guide VE through JV. Curricula and syllabi should be framed, and implemented under the guidance of the national apex committee.
5. There must be an academic structure (curricular, co-curricular, extracurricular) in place in each institution to effectively impart VE.
6. It is desirable to introduce social internship and socially relevant projects as part of VE.
7. Regular faculty be trained to be mentors and resource persons in VE. Colleges may also engage other resource persons for VE.
8. To promote research and innovation in VE:
· Design PhD programme
· Examine concept of Multi-versity.
9. VE should be an important part of school education at primary, secondary and ten-plus-two levels. To promote it, experimental schools may be opened with autonomy to implement their own curriculum incorporating VE. National apex committee may initiate steps in this direction.
10. Activities for students should be started which promote dialogues on Values in institutions and outside them.

Development of Resource Material

11. Comprehensive resource material including books, teacher’s manual, etc. needs to be urgently developed in English for wider implementation in Technical Institutions. NRCVEE at IITD may take special initiatives in this direction.
12. Extensive research effort is needed to evolve new, alternative models in tune with holistic perspective. This includes technology as well as entrepreneurship models.
13. Value-centric evaluation of all the technical subjects, project and research efforts as well as extra-curricular activities should be done to indicate spontaneous direction of change.
14. Before the introduction of regular courses, value-probing, issue-based short modules could be introduced. These can be implemented more easily in the beginning.
15. In evaluating a student, value related criteria should also be included along with skill based criteria. The criteria may be used in entrance exam. and even in graduation.
16. Whenever a value education activity is introduced in any institution, it will be desirous to have some interaction with other stake holders such as prospective employers, parents, and peer groups.
17. It will be desirable to design distance learning programs with local mentors for wider dissemination.
18. Mechanism needs to be created to enable frequent interaction of students with authentic organizations working for value education outside the institutional environment.
19. Value education can serve as effective, affirmative action to help the students from marginalized sections of society.
ON DISSEMINATION OF JEEVAN VIDYA
20. Workshops or shivirs to train faculty from interested institutions should be held at various centers- IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, MS3 Kanpur, Abhyudaya Sansthan Raipur, IIIT Hyderabad, SIDH Mussorie.
21. Promotional lectures to be organized at various locations and Institutes-
· 2-3 Hours duration.
22. Training Institute should be setup for preparing teachers for value education with Jeevan Vidya as the foundational basis.
23. Efforts in the direction of encouraging the people to become facilitators by organizing “Adhyayan Shivirs” or advanced shivirs.
24. More “Shivirs” should be organized in local languages. Resoure material on JV should be translated into all the Indian languages and English.
25. At least 12 “Shivirs” in a year and 4 “Adhyayan Shivirs” in a year should be planned.
26. Annual convention should be organized on the same theme as this one.
FOR INSTITUTIONS
27. Institutions should take steps to introduce value education as a part of academic structure (curricular, co-curricular, extra-curricular).
28. Steps should be taken to train existing faculty in the institution in VE.
29. Resource persons may also be engaged in the institution for VE. These should be done in consultation with the national apex committee to determine their suitability.
30. Institute should facilitate experiments on new models of self-reliant living for teachers of value education along with their students. It can also provide outlet for students to undertake manual work and learn the dignity of labour, through tree plantation, productive work on land, etc.
31. Institutions must undertake a thorough review of culture prevailing in their hostels and the institution as a whole, and work out ways to bring about a positive change. (The goal should be to create family-like atmosphere within the institution, with the participation of students, staff and faculty as members.)
32. A centre for value education may be established to coordinate the activities, however, care must be taken that activities do not get relegated to only the centre. VE has to be the responsibility of the entire faculty and staff of the instituion.
33. Some of the steps suggested above require a close association of the head of the institution with VE, without which its permeation would be a slow and difficult process in the prevailing atmosphere.
34. The following would be the National Committee on VE through JV:

· Dr Sanjay Dhande, Director, IITK (co-chair)
· Dr Surendra Prasad, Director, IITD (co-chair)
· Dr Rajeev Sangal, Director, IIITH (co-chair)
· Prof RR Gaur, IITD (convenor)
· Prof Abhijit Mitra, IIITH
· Prof Deepak Gupta, IITK
· Prof Ganesh Bagaria, HBTI, Kanpur
· Shri Pawan Gupta, SIDH, Mussoorie
· Shri Sadhan Bhattacharya, Amarkantak
· Shri Som Dev Tyagi, Abhyudaya, Raipur
· Dr Punjab Singh, VC, BHU
· Brig. SS Pabla, Director, MIT, Manipal
· Prof DS Bal, Govt. Tech. Education Dept. Raipur