BCCI to hold its 5th annual education conclave on ‘Converging Educational Horizon’

The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry is organising its 5th Annual Education Conclave 2022. The theme for this year is “The Converging Educational Horizon”, and the conclave will be held on Saturday 19 November 2022.

This conclave will include speaker sessions, where experts from the world of education will speak about the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) and how it will impact the Education system from schools to colleges. The sessions will cover: How are Schools Preparing Children to Explore the New Horizons of Education; Different Perspectives on the New Horizons of Education; Role of Skilling and the Importance of the Mental Well-being of Students through Meditation and Motivation. Panellists include eminent personalities and dignitaries who will be addressing the audience.

We, at Edugraph, met up with Satyam Roy Chowdhury, Chancellor of Sister Nivedita University, co-founder & Managing Director of Techno India Group, and the Chairperson for the Education Committee at the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Read on to know about the educational conclave and what his vision is behind the upcoming event.

What is the event about?

This is the fifth round of the education conclave of Bengal Chambers of Commerce and Industry being held on 19 November 2022 at Fairfield Marriott, Kolkata. Academicians from various institutions and universities, along with entrepreneurs, will be attending the event. The conclave will begin at 11 am with an opening address from Subir Chakraborty, the President of Bengal Chamber and Managing Director & CEO of Exide Industries Ltd. The keynote speaker for the session is Shekhar Mehta, President, of Rotary International 21-22. In one of the sessions our Hon'ble Minister of State for Education, Dr Subhas Sarkar will be addressing the event virtually. This will be followed by a session with Padma Shri Professor Dr Ajoy Kumar Ray, who is also the director at JIS Institute of Advanced Studies and Research, Kolkata. We are also expecting teachers and students from different institutions to attend the conclave.

Tell us something about the theme of this year’s education conclave

Our theme this year is ‘The Converging Educational Horizon’. Due to covid, the situation has changed and now our educational world has been divided into two segments- digital and non-digital. This is the time to converge these, along with the different aspects of education as well. After the pandemic, educational platforms have changed. The educational pedagogy, and curriculum, have changed. As the New Education Policy is being adopted, there are a lot of changes happening from the school level to the university. That's why this is the time to converge all these things.

Who will this conclave benefit and how?

The teachers' and students' mental balance and relation must be convergent right now, since the teaching methodology has changed. It is now app-based or in digital mode. The teaching-learning process has changed. Now the teacher should be a mentor for the students and guide them properly. Students are now learning from different sources, not just classrooms, like Google and different digital modes. That's why the teacher-student correlation must become important right now. In order to cope with the current changing scenario, adequate attention and importance towards teacher training should be given.

What was the reason behind this year’s educational conclave theme?

To cope with the gap, not just between the teacher and student, but to act as a convergent between society and academia. And the mental health of students and teachers as well should also be convergent. For the last two years due to the pandemic, the event couldn't take place properly, we organised a virtual and a hybrid event. However, this year we are focusing on virtual and in-person sessions. We are expecting a great outcome from the session.

Tell us a little bit about the variety of panels at the conclave

The four sessions are the most important part of this conference, where in Session 1, educational institutions like Schools/Colleges/Universities will discuss how to prepare their children ‘To Explore The New Horizons Of Education’. The principals of different schools will be talking about this subject.

Session 2 will be discussing the different ‘Perspectives on the New Horizons of Education’. Meanwhile, Session 3 is about the role of skilling in the new education horizon. This topic holds great importance as nowadays skilling is needed in all educational systems. Speakers from different institutions will talk about essential skills and skillsets.

The last panel i.e, session 4 will talk about the importance of the mental well-being of students through meditation and motivation. After Covid, both teachers and students have been facing problems in classrooms. 1.5 million schools were shut down due to the pandemic. Around 13 million students have been affected all over the world by this situation. There are a good number of students who have been wiped out from the educational system. Especially, girl students have been affected the most. Child labour has also increased.

With this session, we believe we will be able to start a discussion to arrive at a decision that can benefit students and teachers in the long run.