Browsing by Author "Singh, S.P."

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    Sensitising the disadvantaged groups through participatory approaches: IGNOU?s experiences in Madhya Pradesh (India)
    (Mediterranean Center of Social and Educational Research, 2015) Pandey, U.C.; Chaudhary, S.; Singh, S.P.
    Madhya Pradesh is home to sizeable proportion of Socio Economically Disadvantaged population of India. Human Development Index of the state is 0.375 which depicts poor socioeconomic conditions. Infant Mortality Rates in some of the areas of the state have been compared to the Sub-Saharan countries as per the World Bank Report titled ?India: Achievement and Challenges in Reducing Poverty? It depicts a challenging situation and calls for massive Educational Upliftment of the people working in rural and tribal areas. Government of India has sincerely prioritized these issues through successive five year plans, however the situation on the ground leaves a lot to be desired. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have placed renewed emphasis on the capacity building of these communities. India Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) which is the biggest role player of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) in India has a mandate to bring such disadvantaged groups in to fold of Higher Education. However it has been a challenging job from several points of views as most of the target groups requiring immediate attention are too vulnerable, poorly capacitated to adopt new practices and nearly cut off from the urban centred educational facilities. The areas inhabiting such communities have low penetration of Newspapers, TV or Radios and ODL systems with their paradigmatically different ways of teaching learning are yet to take roots in these areas. It has been a big challenge for IGNOU to reach out to such Disadvantaged Communities, sensitize them through suitable Confidence Building Measures and involve them in the ODL Programmes to strengthen their livelihoods. Despite various initiatives taken up by ministry and other institutions, there is a vacuum of information among the disadvantaged communities. It is now well realised and understood that capacity building systems for such target groups need to be radically different from ?Business as Usual Approach?. Authors of this paper have the experience of working for the Promotion, Monitoring and Supervision of ODL programmes in these areas. During 2012-13 a series of ?Out of Box Approaches? were initiated by the authors for sensitising these communities. Results have been overwhelming with sizeable participation of people from disadvantaged communities. This paper highlights such new participatory approaches to sensitise the communities and results of such interventions. The paper has been divided in to Four Parts. Part-I describes the socio economic conditions of these areas and the constraints by the people in accessing information. Part-II describes the Confidence Building Measures like ?Khula Manch? [Open Interactive Sessions with Community] initiated by the IGNOU Regional Centre Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) and the response of the communities for such interventions. Part-III describes the initiatives taken by the Regional Centre to sensitise Slum Dwellers in Bhopal. This section also highlights Academic Support Services extended to Slum Dwellers in Slum Areas and the results of such interventions. Part ?IV describes the experiences of joint initiatives with ?Village Panchayats? in rural areas of District ? Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh and lastly Part-V describes overall Conclusions and Recommendations. ? 2015, Mediterranean Center of Social and Educational Research. All rights reserved.
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    Vocational education in higher secondary schools
    (Mediterranean Center of Social and Educational Research, 2015) Singh, Shireesh Pal; Singh, S.P.; Grover, S.; Padmanabhan, J.
    The competent and trained manpower would be contributing significantly to the industrial development of the nation by establishing small industries. Rapid changes in technology, expansion of market, industrial policies of the Government, coming in of more multinationals due to liberalization have revolutionized the aspect of Vocational Education at present the object of vocational education can be achieved by adequate school management. When we talk about objectives of vocational education, we mean to prepare students for self-employment and develop them as skilled manpower. Vocationalisation of Secondary Education is important from the point of view of the economic development of the developing country like ours. Such an education will inculcate the habit of hard work and dignity of labor among the students. This programme will help to solve the problem of unemployment and prepare the way for self-employment. The Present paper is the outcomes of the study of vocational education in higher secondary schools of Bhopal division Bhopal Division comprises of Bhopal, Raisen, Vidhisha, Sehore and Rajgarh districts. Vocational Courses were introduced for the first time in 1988. According to the figures of 1996- 1997 Vocational Courses introduced in thirty-one schools of Bhopal division. For study ten schools where vocational courses are running, selected by investigators randomly. Data collected with the help of various tools like questionnaire and interview schedules. Results of the study reveal that there is a need to strengthen vocational education in the region. ? 2015, Mediterranean Center of Social and Educational Research. All rights reserved.