School of Agriculture (SOA), Uttaranchal University organized a Seven Days Faculty Development Programme on the topic ‘Contemporary Pedagogical Advancement in Agriculture Education’ from 13th May 2022 to 19th May 2022. Shri Jitender Joshi, Chancellor, Uttaranchal University accompanied by Prof (Dr) Dharam Buddhi, Vice-chancellor, Uttaranchal University and Prof (Dr) Sanjeev Kumar Shah, Dean, Uttaranchal College of Polytechnic. By tax lotus of Hon’ble Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor, the lamp lighting was carried. Later After playing of University Anthem Prof (Dr) M P Singh, Dean, SOA welcomed the dignitaries. There was an address by Guest of Honour Prof (Dr) Uma Shankar Sharma, Former Vice-Chancellor, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur, Rajasthan. The proceeding was carried ahead with the addressing of Hon’ble Vice-chancellor, Uttaranchal University. He appreciated the effort and theme of FDP. Later, Hon’ble Chancellor, Uttaranchal University gave blessings to all the attendees and persuaded them to organize such events more in the future. Dr Rajendra Prasad, Head of the Department proposed a Vote of Thanks to commence the Inaugural Ceremony.
On day 2 of the Faculty Development Programme, Dr V K Varshney Scientist-G and Head, Chemistry & Bioprospecting Division, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun gave lecture on ‘Scope of Aroma Science in Agriculture University’. Dr. Varshney quoted “Nowadays, use of alternative and complementary therapies with mainstream medicine has gained the momentum….The essential oils are found to be more beneficial when other aspects of life and diet are given due consideration.” Later questionnaire round was held and doubts of faculty members were promptly solved by the speaker. At 4:00 pm on the same day a lecture was given by Guest of Honour Prof (Dr) Uma Shankar Sharma, Former Vice-Chancellor, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur, Rajasthan on ‘Organic Farming’. He initiated his lecture by saying “Organic farming is a production system which avoids or largely excludes the use of synthetically compounded fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators, genetically modified organisms and livestock food additives.” The session ended with a round of questionnaires. Queries of the faculty members were aptly solved by the speaker.
Day 3 started at 11:30 am with the lecture by Dean of SOA Prof (Dr) Mahipal Singh on the topic ‘Advancement in Teaching Pedagogy to make teaching more meaningful for the students. Dr Singh demonstrated various qualities of a teacher and quoted various tools to be used in teaching pedagogy so the lecture can be made more interesting. At 4:00 pm the session started with the next guest speaker Dr Santosh Kumar, Scientist-E, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India. He said “Soils are complex systems, and their complexity resides in their heterogeneous nature: a mixture of air, water, minerals, organic compounds, and living organisms. The spatial variation, both horizontal and vertical, of all these constituents, is related to soil-forming agents varying at different scales.” He also appended how the effort of farmers can be raised in maintaining soil health. The session was interactive, and queries and their resolutions went in parallel.
On 16th May, day 4th Er Rajesh Deorari, Manager QMS, Uttaranchal University gave a lecture on ‘Equilibrium between tedious Academic Activities and Academic Performance Indicator (API) Score’. It was an interactive lecture with the faculty members. The session started with issues and challenges that faculty members were facing in coping with academic activities and API scores. Later the next session started with the external expert Dr Naresh Gupta, Senior Medical Officer, CHC Premnagar, Dehradun, Uttarakhand on the topic ‘Physical and Physiological Health of Teaching Professionals’. Dr. Gupta took the context of Covid-19 and the challenges the world faced in all sectors. He showed the importance of not only physical health but psychological health.
Day 5 started with the interactive lecture by Prof (Dr) N S Rathore, Vice-Chancellor, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur, Rajasthan on “Contemporary pedagogical advancement in Agriculture Education”. He gave the most accurate statistics on Indian agriculture and focused on the reasons for the advancement of agriculture education in our country. The session ended with a questionnaire round where prompt answers clarified the doubts of the listeners. The next session started with the lecture by Dr Ajay Singh, Dean SALS on ‘Time Management in Classroom Teaching’. He said that prioritizing the topics and enlisting them can make the lecture more efficient and effective. The topics can be planned earlier so the time can be solved for a doubt clearing session on the same day.
Day 6th, 18th May 2022 session started with the lecture by Prof (Dr) Satendra Kumar, Professor, Department of Soil Science, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh on ‘Soil Health and Soil Fertility’. He enlightened faculty members about the challenges and needs of soil health and to raise soil fertility. The next session started at 4.00 pm with the lecture by Dr Rajesh Singh, Director, DRI on ‘IPR and Technological Advancement in Agriculture’. He emphasized by saying that ‘Technology in agriculture affects many areas of agriculture, such as fertilizers, pesticides, seed technology, etc. Biotechnology and genetic engineering have resulted in pest resistance and increased crop yields.’ The session ended with a questionnaire round where the doubts of faculty members were promptly solved by the expert.
On day 7, the session started at 11.30 am with a lecture by Prof (Dr) Mohd Yousuf, Professor and Dean, School of Life Science & Head Department of Zoology, Central University of Kashmir, Jammu & Kashmir on ‘Individual Contribution of Faculty Members to the branding of University’. He enlightened the attendees about important mandates in branding of University. The next session started at 4.00 pm with the lecture by Dr Arun Bhatt, Associate Professor, Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Engineering and Technology, Ghurdauri, Pauri, Garhwal, Uttarakhand on ‘Process and document preparation for registration of a patent in India’. He initiated the lecture by saying that the complete patent registration process involves a series of steps which are to be mandatorily followed to get a patent in India.
One week faculty development program covered all the aspects related to advancement in teaching pedagogy in agriculture. The expert speakers from varied fields cleared the advancement that arose in the agriculture and allied fields and the implications of these in the teaching-learning process. On the last day Head of the Department, Dr Rajendra Prasad proposed a Vote of Thanks. Dean, SOA appreciated the effort of everyone.
