Guwahati: In a move that will add a lot of value to higher education scene in the state, Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) on Tuesday signed a MoU with The Art of Living. Under the MoU, the internationally-acclaimed NGO of the world-renowned spiritual leader Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will undertake a Faculty Development Program for faculties of the Higher Secondary institutes in the state. The Art of Living will also provide access to employability training to over 5000 students, apart from setting up five model skill training centers in five districts of Assam.
The MoU was signed between Chairman of AHSEC Shri Dayanand Borgohain and Shri Col. (Retd.) M Medhi, Trustee of Sri Sri Rural Development Program (SSRDP), the skill development arm of The Art of Living.
Addressing the gathering, Shri Borgohain highlighted the need for vocation education and skill development in making the youth of Assam self-reliant. “The MoU is a small step in our vision of making our youth fit for employability. I thank The Art of Living for coming forward to support us and bring its integrated and holistic approach to skill development,” he said.
The skill development centers will integrate vocational skill development with formal education so that youth have a means to take up a vocation and earn a living by the time they pass the higher secondary level. Soft-skills like spoken English, CV writing, interview skills, presentation, and group discussion will be imparted under the program.
The Faculty Development Program is a holistic capacity-building initiative to equip the faculties of educational institutes with values and skills needed to realize what education means in the life of a man.
“To create an effective environment for education, we need to equip all stakeholders with a stress-free mind, sharp intellectual capabilities and prejudice-free and creative orientation. The program will work in that direction,” said Deepak Sharma, a trustee of SSRDP. “We believe such capacity-building will go a long way in making education a vehicle to produce peace-loving, law-abiding and patriotic citizens,” added Col. Medhi while sharing the vision of Gurudev to make our youth powered by providing skill development.
In a separate development, The Art of Living has also signed another MoU with the Prisons Department of Assam for conducting various Art of Living courses and providing stress management training and rehabilitation to 11000 inmates of all the 31 jails of Assam. The program helps prisoners to reduce violence and drug dependencies, teaching life skills that enable individuals to accept responsibility for their past actions and to handle future conflict, and stressful situations successfully. The program has transformed the lives of 700,000 prison inmates across 45 countries worldwide and over 350,000 in India. The Art of Living will also set up a Sri Sri Pustakalaya (library) each in all the 31 jails in Assam.