A two-week refresher course in social sciences started at the University of Kashmir (KU) on Saturday.
A statement of KU issued here said that Vice Chancellor Prof Talat Ahmad inaugurated the online course organised by the varsity’s UGC-HRDC, for college and university teachers from within and outside the J&K.
It said that in his presidential address, Prof Talat said that social scientists were better communicators to disseminate the criticality of education and research in the society.
He said the flagship National Education Policy-2020 lays emphasis on interdisciplinary education and research and this calls upon teachers to “know something about everything” to be able to answer questions posed by today’s knowledge-driven students in the classrooms about their own subjects and about other subjects too.
The KU statement quoted Prof Talat as saying that it was time for amalgamation of sciences and social sciences for better approaches and outcome on societal and environmental problems.
“In view of COVID19 pandemic, social scientists have a far greater role to play to encourage people to know each other better and socialise more given the isolation, quarantining, trauma and stress they had to undergo,” he said congratulating the UGC-HRDC for organising the refresher course and selecting top-notch experts from different parts of the country as lead speakers.
Prof Talat also urged teachers to be kind to students and encourage critical thinking in classrooms.
“Being rude to students will scare them away from education and inquisitiveness,” he said.