Workshop on Tribal Education Organized by JU Economics Department

Jammu, May 02: One day Consultation Workshop on “Reorienting School Education for Tribals in Jammu and Kashmir” was organized today by the Department of Economics at University of Jammu, through its Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (RCE Jammu) in collaboration with Centre for Environment Education (CEE), Ahmadabad, a centre for excellence under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Government of India with support from Centre for Environment Education and Trainings (CEET), Jammu; National Society for Human Resource Development and Research, Jammu and RCE Srinagar.

Balbir Ram Rattan, the Vice Chairperson, J&K SC, ST, BC Development Corporation, was the Chief Guest on the occasion. He emphasized on the greater attention towards the education of the tribal communities of the state through curriculum reforms for improving their educational status as well as their economic upliftment so that they live a dignified life and contribute towards the development of their own community and the state too.

Dr. C. M. Seth was the Guest of Honour, while Dr. Kavita Suri and Dr. Abhdesh Gangwar were the key resource persons.

Besides other resource persons were S. M. Sahni, R. R. Gupta and  Dr. Javaid Rahi.

Prof. Falendra K. Sudan, Head of the Department of Economics, briefed about the theme of the workshop and how it is related to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved by 2030 and its emphasis on Education for

Sustainable Development for which RCE, Jammu in collaboration with CEE, CEET, and NSHRDR are working in their endeavours.

Dr. Abhdesh Gangwar presented a detailed report on the current educational status of the tribal communities of the state, including his experiences with other tribal communities of India. It was emphasized by the participants of the workshop that most of the tribal communities in the state of Jammu and Kashmir being nomadic, the education for these tribes is a big challenge. Their ethno-livestock knowledge is transmitted from generation to generation. Thus, a system of traditional indigenous knowledge and education is viable even today, and must be passed on through core learning school curriculum to the children and youth of the tribal communities. Not only this, the traditional ecological, medicinal, livestock and climatic knowledge and skills held by the Gujjar and Bakerwal are need based and linked to their annual transhumance. Therefore, educational teaching and learning of tribals must be linked and transfer of the knowledge from one generation to another through formal educational system including school education is a viable option. The workshop concluded with the resolution that the outcome of the deliberations of this Consultation workshop will go a long way in rejuvenating and reorienting school education for tribals in the state of Jammu and Kashmir which will ultimately play a significant role in ameliorating their livelihoods and facilitate in environment conservation and protection and sustainability of their resource base and intergenerational resource equity.

The other dignitaries who were present in the workshop included Prof. Prakash Chand Antahal, Dr. Ravinder Singh, Dr. Subhnandan Jamwal, and Dr. Virender Koundal. Ms. Mussarat Choudhary and Mr. Iqbal Bhat besides a large number of tribal students and research scholars. Dr. Hari

Co Director, RCE, Jammu, Dr. Hari Dutt conducted the proceedings of the workshop. Ms. Gurleen Kour, Ms. Annie Mahajan, and Ms. Rinnie Mahajan were the rapporteurs in the workshop.