Three Day Master Trainers’ Training programme inaugurated at CUO

The three day Residential Master Trainers’ Training programme in Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) began at the Central University of Odisha on Tuesday. The Central University of Odisha is the Eastern Zone Regional Centre for Capacity Building of Faculty as Master Trainers in  CBPR under Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA) 2.0. The inaugural session was held at the Sunabeda Campus on 7^th June 2022.

The Programme was attended by eminent dignitaries including Prof. Rajnish Jain, Secretary UGC, Prof. Rajesh Tandon, Member, UGC and UNESCO Chair on Social Responsibility of Higher Education, Prof. Ujjavala Chakradeo, Vice Chancellor, SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai, Shri Binoy Acharya, Director, UNNATI and Adviser to Govt. of Gujarat in Panchayatiraj, Dr. Kamal Bijlani, Member, UGC Subject Expert Group, Shri Jagadananda, Founder, CYSD and other eminent dignitaries.

Prof. Sharat Kumar Palita, the Vice-Chancellor I/c of the University inaugurated the Programme and stressed the need for community based activities apart from text book teaching for the young students in his inaugural address. The students after gaining community experience will meaningfully contribute towards social development, he said. He hoped that the present programme is a stepping stone towards achieving social development goals, particularly for the Koraput region. The University will be a hub for providing community based expertise, he said.

Prof. Jain, who addressed 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 University plays an important role, he said.

Prof. Tandon explained the participants about the objective of the programme and the importance of capacity building programmes for community development. Being the subject expert, he also explained the participants about the plans of the Programme. Prof. Chakradeo in her address also stressed the need for community based programmes which makes a linkage between the educational institutions and the society. The experience of the rural and tribal people is also important for policy making, she said. Dr. Bijlani stressed the importance of soul, heart and mind for individual transformation which ultimately leads to social transformation. Social values are important for social transformation, he said. Shri Binay Acharya, in his address hoped that the Programme will be helpful for the community if the participants will learn wholeheartedly from this programme and implement it for the use of the society. Shri Jagadananda said that participatory research is very much important for every student and they should convert the class room studies into research reality. He termed this programme as historic and congratulated to the participants as the first batch of citizens who can change the society.

Dr. Ramendra Kumar Parhi, Dean Students’ Welfare of CUO and the Coordinator of the Programme delivered the Welcome address and explained the purpose of the Programme. Dr. Debabrata Panda, Asst. Professor proposed the Vote of Thanks and Dr. Minati Sahoo, Asst. Professor moderated the Programme. Thirty two Participants from five states including Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar and Sikkim are in the University Campus to attend the three days Programme.

The Programme was also attended by members from three non-governmental organisations Pragati, Dhan Foundation and Foundation for Ecological Security (FES). The programme was also attended by Registrar of the University Dr. Asit Kumar Das, CUO Steering Committee members for National Education Policy 2020, Prof. MohdMiyan, Former Vice Chancellor of CUO, Prof. Sudhakar Panda, Executive Council member Prof. Aditya Prasad Padhy& Prof. Manjula Rana, Visiting Professor Prof. Sunil Kanta Behera & Prof. K. Kameswar Rao, UGC Deputy Secretary Dr. Diksha Rajput, Prof. Mahendra Satapathy, Finance Officer Mr. K. Koshala Rao, delegates from Pragati Mr. Prabhakar Adhikary and Ms. Luna Panda, from FES Mr. Pradip Mishra and Bijaya Toppo, from Dhan Foundation Amit Jer and Pratyosh Nayak and other eminent dignitaries. The meeting was attended by participants, research scholars, faculty and staff of the University.

After the Inaugural session the experts and the participants visited two villages Mahadeiput village under Koraput Block and Barkutni village under Semiliguda block. The Programme will be very much helpful to the trainees as well as the local people in the area of rural development and will help shape the two credit course for UG and PG students.