Erudite Speakers from leading Universities of US, Europe, Africa and Asia shared invaluable views on Global Educational Paradigms

Kanya MahaVidyalaya organized a 7 day International Conclave with outstanding academics from 4 continents.During the present COVID-19 times, education and students have suffered a lot as there are no set models of education to face the challenging situation created by the pandemic. The scenario is the same everywhere across the globe. So to build global consensus and to get the best knowledge of global practices, Kanya Maha Vidyalaya organised a seven- day International Conclave on Global Perspectives on Education in COVID-19 Times: Challenges & Opportunities.This mega initiative had erudite academicians from the continents of Europe, USA, Africa & Asia as the invited speakers. The inputs from the luminaries of leading universities including Boston University, USA, Eotvos Lorand University, Hungary & Leeds University, UK were of colossal contribution to the prevelant educational scenario worldwide . Their extensive & detailed deliberations, talks, presentations have been instrumental in helping over 5000 scholars, students and academicians from all over India and across the globe to gain valuable insights on shifting paradigms in education, thus helping all rethink, re-examine and restructure the existing model to suit the educational conditions. There is no doubt that the faculty of KMV & the students along with the scholars from across India will stand to gain a lot from this seven day long dialogue and conversation with the best in academia. The first session of the conclave revolved around the subject of ‘Teaching and Learning in Remote Environment’ with Dr Maria Zlateva, Director of ESL, Boston University, Dr Malavika Shetty, Lecturer, Linguistics & Writing, Boston University as the keynote speakers of the session. Many informative and healthy facts were shared by the primary speakers in the session, enlightening the students and staff of KMV about how different methodologies and use of technology has made possible great engagement in the virtual classes owing to devastating pandemic. Dr Marta Fulop, Professor of Social Psychology, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary & Dr Janos Gyori, Professor of Education & Psychology, Eotvos Lorand University, Hungary were the keynote speakers for the second day of the conclave. They enlightened the students and staff of KMV about the effect of COVID-19 lockdown in Hungarian University students’ mental health. The keynote speaker for the third day of the conclave was Dr Vijay Singh Thakur, Associate Professor, Department of English Language & Literature, Dhofar University, Salalah, Oman. During the session, Dr Vijay elaborated on the concept that how teachers can make the learning more easy with the help of cartoons or pictures during the classroom learning. Dr Edward J. Downes, Associate Professor, Boston University, USA delivered a talk on Relationship between the Digital Divide and COVID-19 on the fourth day of the conclave. During the talk, Dr Downes very vividly explained the phenomenon of Digital Divide to all the participants. Dr Naeema B.Hann, Senior Lecturer, Leeds Beckett University, United Kingdom was the keynote speaker for the fifth day of the conclave. During her lecture, she explained various methods that we should adopt in order to overcome the virtual challenges so that student teacher communication can be made more effective in the digital classroom environment. Dr Sivakumar Sivasubramaniam, Professor, University of Western Cape, South Africa delivered the talk on sixth day of the conclave. He stressed on the importance of fostering a culture of well being during this Pandemic. Prof John Battaglino, Dean, Student Affairs, Boston University, USA was the keynote speaker for the valedictory session of the conclave. Prof. John Battaglino in his address appreciated the efforts of KMV for organising such a brilliant conclave that gave all the educators around the world a chance to interact with each other and also to educate the people about the education paradigm post COVID. He adumbrated that today the world needs big thinkers and we all need to identify where are our leaders and who they are. Mr Chander Mohan, President, Arya Shiksha Mandal, expressed his concern for those students in India who don’t have proper internet access and no gadgets, and also stated his worry that we may create a greater Digital Divide in our society. In the words of Principal Prof. Dr. Atima Sharma Dwivedi, KMV has always taken a lead in building a common global pool of best practices as model to provide quality education during COVID-19. The effort of the KMV is to provide the best possible opportunities to the students, online model of education coupled with personal care of the students.
The high of this conclave was the consensus of all the academicians to be compassionate and caring and giving priority to the human factor over everything else. The students must be taken care of & their overall emotional, spiritual, academic as well as holistic well being should be of utmost importance & top priority of the academicians. It goes without saying that KMV stands by these principles and is always committed to the students’ well being . Organising such meaningful and momentous Conclave bears testimony to the claim.