WorldVeterinary Day (WVD) is the annual celebration to highlight the contribution ofveterinarians to society and is celebrated every year on last Saturday of Aprilwith a specific theme decided by World Veterinary Association that has itsheadquarters in Belgium. Society of Veterinary Scientists and Academicians(SVSA) that is a professional association of Veterinary Scientists ofSKUAST-Kashmir happens to be one among the only four professional veterinaryassociations of country that are affiliated to the World body. This year WorldVeterinary Day was celebrated on 25-04-2020 with a theme “EnvironmentalProtection for Improving Animal and Human Health”, which aptly connected to thecurrent state of affairs in view of COVID-19 pandemic.
Traditionallyat SKUAST-Kashmir this day is celebrated since 2003 with great zeal andenthusiasm and it in a way marks the Annual Day of Faculty of VeterinarySciences and Animal Husbandry (Veterinary College) SKUAST-Kashmir. The monthlong programme usually includes plantation drives, campus cleanliness andbeautification drives, sports bonanza and various contests for students likedebates, quiz, painting, slogan, poster making, rangoli and essay writing. Theprogramme concludes with gala celebrations on World Veterinary Day when all theStudents, Faculty, Non-teaching staff, University Officers, Invited Guests fromdifferent walks of life and School children from some of the selected cityschools converge at Shuhama Campus of SKUAST-Kashmir. The events start with aWVD rally that is flagged off by the Honourable Vice Chancellor, hoisting ofWorld Veterinary Association Flag, Livestock Technology Exhibition, themelectures, WVD address by Vice Chancellor and the invited guest of honour andfelicitation of winners of different events organised during month longcelebrations. Faculty member with flair of writing make it a point to getarticles related to theme of the WVD and the Veterinary profession published inlocal dailies.
However,this year owing to lockdown and social distancing guidelines following COVID-19pandemic, the physical assembly could not be possible but thanks to technology,we were able to have THE REAL Celebrations VIRTUALLY.
What startedas an idea to conduct events like essay completion on the theme of WVD byinviting entries through e-mails, metamorphosed into a gala event, thanks totechnology and tech savvy young Faculty and Students of Faculty of VeterinarySciences and Animal Husbandry (FVSc &AH). The series of events wereconducted for which event management committee chaired by Senior Professor andyoung tech savvy Faculty as member secretary were constituted. The YoungFaculty and Students used their IT skills and innovative bent of mind to hiltand made it possible to add all required spice to the celebrations. The studentcontests that were held included:
- Essay writing
- Slogan writing
- Poster making
- Photography
- Online quiz
- Online speech
A yetanother contest was added in the last minute for contribution to VetScan; anannual wall magazine of FVSc & AH in form of paintings poems cartoons etc.
The jury hada tough time in deciding the awardees as every entry in every contest wasbetter than the other. Member secretaries of different contest committees wereable to make all the contests as lively as they could be. Students, especiallythe girls performed exceptionally well as they put their heart and mind intothe contests. Students’ comments on social media after every contest was treatto read as it depicted the level of joy and satisfaction.
A series ofwebinars was arranged in which experts of national and international reputewere invited to deliberate on the topics related to the theme of WorldVeterinary Day. The expert speakers included Professor Nazeer Ahmed, HonourableVice Chancellor, SKUAST-K, Professor M. L. Madan, former Deputy DirectorGeneral, Indian Council for Agricultural Research, Professor Shane Melony fromWestern Australian University, Professor David Brender CDC, USA, ProfessorNazir Ahmed Ganai, Director Planning and Monitoring, SKUAST-K, Professor D. M.Makhdoomi, Controller Examination, SKUAST-K, Professor Shakeel Ahmed Ramshoo,Head, Department of Earth Sciences and Geo-informatics, Kashmir University, DrMaroof Shah, Deputy Director Research Deptt. of Sheep Husbandry, Dr AnjumAndrabi, Deptt. of Animal Husbandry and Dr Aijaz A. Dar SMS(AS) KVK Kupwara.All lectures went on well except one where the 2G network played a spoil sportand had to be abandoned halfway through, much to the dismay of the speaker aswell as the listeners.
Except thecup of tea that is served in usual seminars all ingredients were there. Thesessions were aptly conducted by the respective technical committees comprisingChairman, Co-Chairman and Rapporteur. The question answer session at the end ofthe session was a treat to witness.
Thefortnight long celebration was a learning experience and vividly demonstratedthe power of technology. A speaker sitting in his office in USA interacted withFaculty and Students relaxing in their living rooms in Kashmir and thetechnical committee conducted the event also from their home. While thephysical distance was real, all were in a same virtual surrounding. The wholeevent spread over a fortnight was completed without using a single piece ofpaper, All the notices, approvals, invitations and proceeding were compiled andissues in digital format. This was again in complete Coherence with the themeof WVD.
COVID-19pandemic is certainly going to set a new normal. Who knows, that work from homebecomes a new norm. Seminars will give way to Webinars and Class rooms getreplaced by e-classrooms. Establishment of Virtual schools, colleges anduniversities with no real campuses cannot be ruled out.
It was thetechnology that exposed seamless learning experience where in the lockdown wasrespected; social distance was maintained but never at the cost of emotional distance.In fact the emotional distance got reduced and we all got networked into ane-maze where the celebration was REAL but in VIRTUAL mode.
Professor Azmat Alam Khan is Associate Director Research, SKUAST-Kashmir