Cluster University Srinagar Friday organised a day long consultative workshop on community engagement on rural immersion in collaboration with Mahatma Gandhi National Council of Rural Education.
The MGNCRE is a sister concern of Department of HigherEducation, Union Ministry of Human Resources Development.
Officers of NSS of all the Constituent Colleges of ClusterUniversity Srinagar participated in the in the programme.
The chief guest Prof. Sheikh Javid Ahmed, Vice Chancellor,Cluster University Srinagar, in his inaugural address underscored the need forprovision of involving the student community in Rural Community EngagementProgrammes.
He further accentuated, that course curriculum should be inline with present needs of the society, focusing on practicality andemployability.
Prof Ahmad called upon the faculty members to be productivein interacting with villagers to understand their problems and come out withways to develop villages so that their unexplored potential gets utilised.
The Guest of Honour, Prof. G.M. Tibet Baqal, Dean SocialSciences, Cluster University Srinagar shared his life experiences of ruralcommunity development and advised programme officers to prepare students to actas bridge between the Government and rural areas by providing valuable dataabout their needs and requirements so that villagers could benefit from welfareschemes.
The state co-ordinator, MHRD, Dr. Syed Zehra, said villagesneed to have continuous power supply, water supply, proper sanitation, basicinfrastructure and well equipped educational institutes to stop migration tourban area.
The University Coordinator NSS Mr. Gulzar Ahmed, in his keynote address stated that community life in rural areas with varied complexitiesis closely related with socio-economic phenomenon.
In this context, rural immersion is an exploration of humanbehaviour in its natural zones that will help students to view lifedifferently, Ahmad said.