FLAME RESEARCH COMMITTEE invites you to a talk by DR. SUNITI VADALKAR, FLAME University
"Abhyudaya : Agro-Centric Primary Education In Rural India" (Co-author: DR. SWATI NALAWADE)


Abstract: Indian civilization has an illustrious past in the domains of education, culture and arts. However, the current education system in the country is largely a mirror of the colonial period. This has resulted into a gaping difference between rural and urban education systems as far as their relevance is concerned. Being an agrarian economy, the major occupation was agriculture. However after the mixed economy policy of the first prime minister of independent India, agriculture and farming has taken a backseat. We have experienced that higher education and professional degrees leading to good jobs in industry and services have done greater damage towards considering agriculture as an occupation or profession. In addition, the complete dependency of the farmers on environmental variables has brought much plight in their lives.  Currently, none of the primary schools teach agriculture or farming as a subject. This has lead to an indifference towards these areas amongst students except for those who intend to pursue it for graduate and post graduate studies. This ongoing qualitative research aims to understand and discuss an innovative idea that is being nurtured in the field of agro-centric primary education by ‘Abhyudaya Global village school.’ Situated in the city of Nagpur, Maharashtra state in India, the school has initiated this endeavour for the children of farmers and farm labourers. Abhyudaya integrates a study of effective agricultural practices in a scientific manner to build an optimistic attitude towards agriculture and envisages a generation of financially sustainable ‘agri-preneurs’ in future.