Prem Khatry

The first and the second Indo-Nepal Conferences (INCs) – 2011 and 2014 - were convened at Kathmandu Vidya Kunja School where the writer had the honour of being the founder and chairman for seven-long years. Unjust and extraordinary profit motive worked as 'push' factor so he had to say 'bye' to KVKS and be a 'free man' again. This caused difficulty in finding another venue for the Third INC. Finally Glacier International College accepted the proposal to convene the event. Similarly, CTEF Nepal decided to organise INC at GIC, Shantinagar, Minbhawan, Baneshwar.
It remained a matter of satisfaction for CTEF India and Nepal to see that besides GIS two other institutions offered to organise the third INC in different pattern - have a theme- oriented events also at three venues: Education and Development at GIS, Education, Development and Employment at the School of Education, Hattiban, Kathmandu (KU) and Education, Development and Social Work at the Kadambari Memorial College, Buddhanagar, Baneswar. In all the three events CTEF involved teachers to enhance their teaching skill and level of performance. They enjoyed their company with senior professors from Nepal and various universities of India.

Holistic approach
The presentation session at GIS was remarkable and memorable where Prof Mana Pd Wagle, former Dean at KU and Prof S. Sonawane presented the theme papers. Prof Wagle's focus remained in the field of need for future. He argued that futuristic approach to education training for teacher is the need of the day. This is so particularly because the student in front and in the care of the teacher today is a 'digital' child and needs to be treated as such. Unless the teacher prepares to meet the challenge in the classroom, education can't be called innovative, he argued and added 'our curricula must be updated on regular basis.
Prof. S Sonawane from Pune Maharastra, in collaboration with Dr Nisha Valvi, focused on the Gandhian philosophy of community engagement in education. He argued that the learning individual learner's hand, head and heart should be the teacher's focus for the holistic approach to the development of the child's learning aptitude. Speaking as the third presenter, Regan Prasain of GIS focused on overall development of the student in a classroom situation and brought examples from Glacier International. During the floor discussion, the participating teachers took active part to interact with the key speakers. In all, the GIS one day symposium remained memorable for the CTEF delegates from India and Nepal.
KU School of Education organised the second one-day symposium at Hattiban Campus, KU. The Dean of the School Prof Mahesh Nath Parajuli and Dr Prakash C Bhattarai, Secretary General of CTEF Nepal were the focal person behind the symposium. At the outset, Prof Parajuli welcomed the guests and outlined the nature of the symposium. The discussion session started with the presentation by CTEF chairman Prof Bhandarkar who spoke on the current issues in teacher education with special focus on the need to bring change considering on the need of the 21st century characterised by digital technology impacting education at all levels. But, he said, there is no provision for higher level teacher education and training through CTEF. He argued that education must promote human values and necessary skills.
Prof Nilima Bhagabati presented her views on women and education. She equated women with goddesses - the Matrikas in particular- and added there are problems in this sector. Particularly, she added there are problems in – a) exercise of declared women's rights, b) health and c) education. These problems do not demonstrate women's better status. Next speaker, Dr Babli Choudhury presented her paper on education and social media. She focused on the adverse impact of the latest social media where youngsters using modern gadgets are ruining their language skill by unnecessarily shortening the words, sentences and overall structure. The original methods of communication are at risk, she argued, based on her latest research.
In the second part of the session, Prof Bhadra Man Tuladhar, former registrar of KU, presented his views as the chair of the session. He focused on the use of technology in education. He offered his views based on KU structure and the way forward. The last speaker, Dr. Madhuri Issave, presented her paper focusing on the role of a village library in the remote rural setting of Maharashtra. The village library is not only imparting important information, it is also increasing its popularity among the potential visitors. It could be called 'education/information tourism' in place.
The third symposium was held at the Kadambari Memorial College of Social Work at Buddhanagar, Baneshwar. A relatively new college in town Kadambari offered to have the symposium in collaboration with CTEF Nepal. For the Indian delegates from several state chapters of India, the college offered a warm welcome and organised the programme very efficiently. Principal Dr Nalini Lama and academic Coordinator Dil Thakuri were at hand to welcome the Shanta Manawi and the delegates on the campus. At the beginning, the Principal and coordinator presented the introduction to their college, the only graduate level pioneer Social Work college in Nepal. In the academic session, Sanjeeb Tomar presented his theme paper on the importance of IT in education.

Outcome
The final part of Kadambari symposium was the felicitation programme. CG Shanta Manawi presented Letter of Appreciation to all the paper writers from Nepal and India. Profs Bhandarkar, Nilima Bhagabati, Chief Guest, Dr Bhattarai, Principal Diwas Shakya and other scholars spoke on the need to promote CTEF philosophy on teacher education. KU and CTEF India will be bonded in an MOU to exchange scholars in the days ahead. CTEF Nepal will represent Nepal in all future conferences to be organised in India. In all the third Indo- Nepal conference ended successfully with special focus on the best outcome education can offer. (Concluded)