ICAR & World Bank to Hold International Conference Under NAHEP Project from March 21

Hosted by ICAR and IASRI (Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute) which is a multi-partner forum to assist collaboration for the development of a state-of-the-art incorporated education system for higher agricultural education, it will be a three-day event commencing from March 21 to 23 in New Delhi.

The objective of the conference is to ease the development of the global ecosystem of the partners from the government, academia, industry, and the multilateral and bilateral organizations who would offer critical sights towards the design and the full application of all aspects of the Resilient Agricultural Education System (RAES) under the National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP) which is the learning management system, content-wide capacity building, and content repository. Other than these engaging discussions, this three-day event will also demonstrate an exhibition on the varied range of services and offerings in the field of agriculture and amalgamated learning.

The exhibition and the conference will be inaugurated by Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. Along with other global leading institutions like IIT, AICTE, and IRRI, several other ministries will also be participating.

Some renowned speakers addressing the conference include Dr. R.C. Agrawal, Deputy Director General (Agricultural Education), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, Dr. Himanshu Pathak, Secretary, Department of Agriculture Research and Education (DARE), and Director General (DG), ICAR, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, and Dr. Auguste Tano Kouame, Country Director, the World Bank.

“According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the agriculture sector in India contributes about 17 to 18 percent of the Gross Value Added (GVA) of the economy and engages more than 40 percent of the workforce. Also, farmers are adopting new technologies for improving and monitoring crop health and production. The True approval of blended learning has great potential and can unlock the agriculture economy to new heights”, said Dr. Himanshu Pathak.

In addition to this, Dr. R.C. Agrawal said, “The centre of the conference is to brace the collaboration among several implementing agencies working in the domains of digital education, remote learning, and blended education system. This will also help in establishing teamwork with flagship programs such as Digital India and Skill India to start the deployment of the Resilient Agricultural Education System (RAES) under NAHEP”.

The conference is organized around the areas including strategies for sustainability in the blended learning ecosystem, blended teaching-learning, technologies for blended learning, structuring the stakeholder capability to navigate in a blended teaching-learning ecosystem, and coexisting curriculum for agricultural education.

NAHEP was proposed on a 50:50 cost-sharing basis between the World Bank and the Government of India and was originated by ICAR with a total cost of US$ 165 million for five years during the financial year 2017-18. It was tackled to brace the National Agricultural Education System in the country.