A two-day RUSA-sponsored webinar on ‘Decolonising and Integrating Knowledge of India in Education’ was organised by the Department of Education, Patna Women’s College Autonomous in collaboration with Loreto College, Kolkata on 27 & 28 May 2023. The Chief Guest of the webinar was Prof. Jagbir Singh, Chancellor, Central University Of Punjab; the Special Guest was Shri Anjani Kumar Singh, Director General, Bihar Museum, Patna and the Guest of Honour was Dr. Rajiv Kumar Singh, Director Academics, NIOS. The inaugural session began with the digital lighting of the lamp followed by a prayer song. The welcome address was delivered by Dr. Sister M. Rashmi A.C., Principal, Patna Women’s College Autonomous and the theme of the webinar was explained by Dr. Sister M. Saroj A.C., Convenor, Head, Department of Education, Patna Women’s College Autonomous. Dr. Rajiv Kumar Singh emphasised incorporating ‘Satya, Gyan and Pragya’ (wisdom) in the Indian education system, to make up for the loss of the humane and social side of education, we have inherited from the British era. Prof. Jagbir Singh opined that India is a ‘civilization state’ and not a ‘Nation state’, and thus, her education must reflect the multidimensional society that we have. A digital version of the compendium of abstracts was also released by Prof. Singh. The compere of the inaugural session was Dr Madumita, Assistant Professor, Department of Education, Patna Women’s College Autonomous.
The two-day webinar consisted of two plenary sessions and three technical sessions. The keynote speaker of the first plenary session was Prof. Chandra Bhushan Sharma, School of Education, IGNOU, New Delhi and the chairperson was Prof Shefali Roy, Head, Department of Political Science, Patna University. Prof. Sharma held a riveting discussion on the topic “NEP 2020: A Policy for Decolonising Indian Mind”. He urged us to re-assess and re-evaluate how our education was colonised and focused towards decolonizing it. The session was moderated by Dr Rashmi Sinha, Assistant Professor, Department of Education, Patna Women’s College Autonomous.
The keynote speaker for the second plenary session was Prof. Rajnish Kumar Mishra, School of Sanskrit and Indic Studies, JNU, New Delhi and the chairperson was Prof. Khagendra Kumar, Dean, Department of Education, Patna University. The chairperson began the session by asserting that English is an alternative to knowledge in India. The keynote speaker, Prof. Rajnish Kumar Mishra began by appreciating the topic and said that the topic is relocating the Indian mind to its own heritage. He led his discussion on the topic “India’s Intellectual Traditions: Decolonizing the higher studies in India”. The session was moderated by Dr Madhumita, Assistant Professor, Department of Education, Patna Women’s College Autonomous.
The chairpersons of the three technical sessions were Dr. Jessie Sushil Modi, Head, P.G. Department of Education, Patna University; Prof. Gyandeo Mani Tripathi, Principal, Maitreya College of Education and Management, Hajipur and Prof. Ameeta Jaiswal, Head, Department of Philosophy and Dean, Humanities and Social Sciences, Patna Women’s College respectively. Towards the end, the chairperson of each session appreciated the research papers and efforts of the researchers and gave their valuable feedback. The moderators of the technical sessions were Dr. Shubhra, Ms. Waeza Afshan and Ms. Swati Shilpi, Assistant Professors, Department of Education, Patna Women’s College Autonomous.
In total, about 35 deliberations were delivered. The webinar eloquently encapsulated the key themes and there were prolific discussions on thrust areas of the webinar as Social Sciences and Knowledge of India, Case Studies and Field Reports on Knowledge of India, Understanding and Locating Indigenous Knowledge, Cross-disciplinary Approach to Integrating Knowledge of India in Education.
The Chief Guest of the valedictory session was Prof. Kameshwar Jha, Vice Principal, Bihar Higher Educational Council, and the Guest of Honour was Dr. Sadan Jha, Associate Professor, Centre for Social Studies, Surat. The session began with the address by the Patron, Dr Christine Coutinho, Principal, Loreto College, Kolkata and the recommendations were presented by the Convenor, Ms Sukanya Mullick, Department of Education, Loreto College, Kolkata. Prof. Kameshwar Jha threw light on the colonial period and regarded Sanskrit as a treasure trove of India. Dr Sadan Jha asserted that we became the passive location of generating data for the Britishers and as a result, we became empirically non-west and theoretically West. The Vote of Thanks was proposed by Ms. Yamini, Assistant Professor, Department of Education, Patna Women’s College Autonomous. The webinar ended with the National Anthem.
