Faculty members from Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Sikkim and Odisha attended the face-to-face Master Trainers’ Training Programme. Source: Twitter
The Central University of Odisha is hosting the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) three-day Residential Master Trainers’ Training programme in Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) under Unnat Bharat Abhiyan from June 7 to 9. The inaugural session was held on the Sunabeda campus on June 7.
The programme was attended by eminent dignitaries like UGC secretary Rajnish Jain, UGC member and UNESCO Chair on Social Responsibility of Higher Education Rajesh Tandon, SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai, vice-chancellor Ujjavala Chakradeo, UNNATI director and adviser to Gujarat government in Panchayati Raj Binoy Acharya, UGC Subject Expert Group member Kamal Bijlani, and CYSD founder Jagadananda.
Sharat Kumar Palita, the vice-chancellor of Central University of Odisha, inaugurated the programme and underlined the need for community-based activities apart from textbook teaching for the young students in his inaugural address.
Jain, who joined online, explained the objective of the programme and the intention of UGC in initiating such programmes through the Ministry of Education. “The community will be the beneficiaries through these programmes where the university plays an important role,” he said.
The programme was also attended by members of three non-governmental organisations — Pragati, Dhan Foundation and Foundation for Ecological Security (FES).
After the inaugural session, the experts and the participants visited two villages — Mahadeiput in Koraput block and Barkutni in Semiliguda block. The programme will be helpful to the trainees as well as the local people in the area of rural development. It will help shape the two-credit course for UG and PG students.