A seven-day training on curricular development and traditional Knowledge: “Cultural heritage for the future” organized by the Indo-German Bilateral Co-operation project “Protection and Sustainable Management of Aquatic Resources in the North-eastern Himalayan Region of India” in collaboration with Centre for Bio-cultural Diversity, University of Kent, United Kingdom, was held at Kohima Science College Jotsoma from September 14 to 22.
A press release from KSC informed that the capacity building training was to facilitate curriculum development on traditional knowledge proposed to be introduced as a new course and offered by the college in line with the National Education Policy (2020), which would be introduced as a multi-disciplinary subject to be offered by the department of Anthropology, Botany and Zoology of the college.
Speaking at the training, senior Lecturer in Environmental Anthropology and Director of the Centre for Bio-cultural Diversity at the University of Kent, UK Dr. Rajindra Puri, emphasized on the importance of preserving, conserving, documenting and transmitting the deep and rich traditional knowledge of the people.
Clearing some misconception about traditional knowledge, Dr. Puri said that traditional knowledge does not mean “old” or “dead” knowledge but was a “living” knowledge embedded in the rich cultural practices of the people for generations. The week long training course covered range of topics encompassing traditional knowledge such as methods, ethics, variation, classification, transmission, ethno-ecology, biological knowledge and justice. The participants stated that the training was informative and useful where one of the participants commented “wished we had such course in school.” The training course concluded with the framing of a preliminary syllabus framework.
The college has also planned to introduce traditional knowledge as a Value Added Course (VAC) in the 2024 academic session and will be spread over two semesters. It can be mentioned that the training was a part of the Indo-German Bilateral Cooperation Project “Protection and Sustainable Management of Aquatic Resources in the North Eastern Himalayan Region of India (NERAQ).
The Indian Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC) in partnership with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) will be implementing the project with funding support from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) under the International Climate Initiative (IKI).
The overall project objective was to strengthen the conservation and sustainable use of the unique aquatic ecosystems in the region, which are the basis of life for millions of people. Altogether 16 participants comprising of faculties and research scholars of the college attended the training.