The world is witnessing a high-tech revolution with changes in science, technology, commerce and industry. The world now believes that knowledge is everything. With opening up of world economy by way of globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation processes all the business sectors are witnessing a tremendous growth. The whole economy is undergoing a tremendous transformation with many new sunrise sectors like financial services, consultancies etc coming up. The service sector is outstripping the manufacturing sector in growth. A career in these sectors involves challenging work, high growth opportunities, lucrative pay packets and a professionally challenging work environment. The job market is undergoing a metamorphosis. This is creating a huge demand for careers like CAs, ICWAs, ICSs and MBAs. This has led to huge change in the way we teach and deliver business studies and management courses.
The corporate world is dynamic and the changes are so severe that a series of new concepts and techniques are fast coming into being and the earlier and traditional ones are becoming obsolete. This situation has given rise to the need for restructuring the curricula of commerce education at all levels so as to make it meaningful and compatible with the changing business scenario and introduce the concepts and techniques among the commerce teachers to further channelize and streamline their contribution. By introducing more and more professional skills, we need output of graduates and researchers to be of the best quality in the world.
With the above backdrop in view a workshop on restructuring of curriculum of commerce education at +2 level and preparation of textbooks in the discipline was organised by J&K Board of School Education (BOSE) from 11th to 16th of July, 2011 at the BOSE campus, Srinagar. The workshop was the first in the series of many workshops to be organised by BOSE in the discipline of Commerce.
The main objectives of the workshop were to:
 restructure the course curriculum of the Business Studies Course of the Commerce Stream at senior secondary level ,  prepare activity based valuable study material for the students that would save them from the menace of ready-made notes, and  develop in students the habit of learning through books, self-study and creativity.
The workshop was inaugurated by the chairman of BOSE, Prof. Sheikh Bashir Ahmed, who himself happens to be a renowned expert in the field of commerce. The other dignitaries who lent their gracious presence to the inaugural session of the workshop were Mr G. H. Malik, Director Academics J&K BOSE and Mrs. Geetika, Academic Officer for Commerce and Management Studies. In his inaugural address, Prof Bashir highlighted the need for and significance of commerce education in the changing world business   and out-lined the need for conducting the series of workshops and seminars to infuse new blood in the commerce education. He emphasised on making the commerce curriculum and textbooks student centred and stress free. He assured his full support and cooperation for any modification in the commerce education. Participating in the inaugural session, Mr G H Malik, the Director Academics referred to some recent initiatives taken by the BOSE for improving the academic standards at the higher secondary level. Mr Malik shared his valuable experiences as an  academician and administrator. He expressed the view that the workshop was contextual and fulfilment of a long felt need. Earlier the academic officer of the BOSE, Mrs. Geetika welcomed the participants and guests and gave an account of the objectives of the workshop and the issues to be covered during the workshop. She underscored the need for restructuring the commerce curriculum when the entire business world is undergoing significant changes requiring serious and advanced study and research.
The organisers were successful in bringing together some specialists in business studies from different educational institutions in the Valley. The team was led by an acclaimed teacher in Commerce Education Prof Nazir A Gilkar, Principal Government Degree College, Sogam. The other experts included Mr Mohammed Rafi, Mrs. Roshan Ara, Mr Mudasir Fazili and Mr Khalid. The experts sketched the changing contours of the business world and its impact on business education. Everyday two technical sessions were held on selected topical themes, with presentations followed by very relevant and enlightened observations. Take home assignments were also the feature of the workshop.
The main focus of the workshop was to prepare self- instructional learning material in the Business Studies Course at higher secondary level. The material to be developed would be activity based providing practical knowledge to the students regarding the subject. The material aims at clarifying the concepts of students at the very introductory level. Also the context of the curricula would be simple, meaningful and interest-oriented.
During the work shop it was felt that since the commerce education is a professional one, it needs to be made job-oriented. The students opting for commerce have a bright future and a lot of opportunities are available in the changing global market. We need to create more and more business professionals, managers, marketing executives, financial consultants, business analysts, entrepreneurs and chartered accountants who would be the job providers and not the job seekers.  It was argued that the careers in commerce which the students can opt for after completing their +2 level education include BBA,  CA, BBM, ICS, ICWA, B.Com,  diploma courses in marketing, sales, production and financial management. Banks, financial institutions, services sector and insurance agencies constitute the job markets for commerce students. Consultancy services of various types are also a good option. The commerce education needs to be the first choice after matriculation. 
Some of the other recommendations of the workshop are as under:
• The commerce curriculum should be activity based and stress free.
• The choice for opting for commerce education should be the first choice.
• Counseling should be provided to parents as well as students to increase the enrollment of the commerce education.
• It should be made obligatory for the employing agencies to select commerce candidates in various specialized fields like accounts, banking, management and other financial services.
• The teachers in the classroom must see that the learning objectives set for a course are achieved through properly chosen strategies and content.
• To meet the requirements of the global market, we need to focus on professionalization of the commerce education.
Deliberations of the workshop concluded with the valedictory session which was chaired by Secretary J&K BOSE, Dr.S.S.Bloria. Director Academics was also present on the occasion.  Dr Bloria made some brief but illuminating observations and thanked the experts for the new initiative of preparing self instructional learning material for the students and for making the workshop a success.  The Programme officer proposed a vote of thanks to the resource persons and participants of the workshop. If academic activities like this workshops are about creating discourse, promoting intellectual exchange and generating a momentum that lasts long, then this   workshop achieved its objectives.

(Roshan Ara is Senior Lecturer in Commerce, Govt. Girls HSS, Amirakadal, Srinagar. She can be reached at roshanara66@gmail.com

Lastupdate on : Tue, 9 Aug 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
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