Church's HIV/AIDS mission in India

[Guest guest]

Church's unique HIV/AIDS mission in India

Published : May 05 2009/ Indian Catholic

The Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) Chair at Indira Gandhi National

Open University (IGNOU) has done commendable work during the past nine years by

way of developing several socially relevant programmes of study in the areas of

HIV/AIDS, family life education, drug addiction, social work and now philosophy.

On April 22, 2009 CBCI and IGNOU signed the revised MoU (Memorandum of

Understanding) at St 's Medical College, Bangalore.

Here is a brief about the CBCI Chair at IGNOU:

The CBCI Chair at IGNOU was established on February 29, 2000. This is the only

Chair that CBCI has established in a Central University.

The Chair has done commendable work during the past nine years by way of

developing several socially relevant programmes of study in the areas of

HIV/AIDS, family life education, drug addiction, social work and now philosophy.

The Chair also made valuable contribution in creating awareness on the what, why

and how of HIV/AIDS by organizing several seminars, training programmes,

workshops and awareness programmes across the country including Srinagar in the

extreme north and Port Blair in extreme south, Guwahati, Dimapur, Imphal and

Shilong in the north east and several other state capitals.

The Chair organizes the annual national seminar on social work and HIV/AIDS

attended by over 300 social work teachers and practitioners from across the

country, each time, from 2004. The first seminar was held at PHD House in New

Delhi, second and third seminars were organized in American Embassy, New Delhi,

fourth seminar was held at Don Bosco Institute, Guwahati and the fifth seminar

at Indian Social Institute, Bangalore.

The Chair organizes the annual Mother Memorial Lecture from 2008. The

inaugural lecture was delivered by Bharat Ratna Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former

President of India, on the topic " Giving Dignity to Human Life " . Dr. Kalam

donated the honorarium given to him for creating an endowment to award the BSW

gold medalist a cash award of Rs. 10,000/- each year during the convocation.

The first student to receive the award was Mr. Mithun Sharma during the 20th

Convocation held on February 28, 2009 at IGNOU, Delhi. The University has also

instituted a gold medal each for DAFE, BSW, PGDSW and MSW programmes developed

by the Chair.

One of the main objectives of establishing the Chair at IGNOU was to address the

issue of HIV/AIDS. It is a matter of great satisfaction to report that after

nine years of intense work, the CBCI Chair has done extremely well in developing

and launching various programmes of study from Certificate to Doctoral Degree.

As on date perhaps no other University in the world has done so much of

educational intervention in the area of HIV/AIDS than IGNOU.

The first programme launched was the Certificate in HIV and Family Education

(CAFÉ) of Six months' duration in 2002. This programme is available both in

English and Hindi and is also being offered in Nepal, Namibia and Kenya. About

one thousand students enroll for this programme every year. The Chair also

revised the programme and the revised version is on offer from January 2008.

The second programme namely, Diploma in HIV and Family Education (DAFE) was

launched from January 2003 both in English and Hindi. Over one thousand students

take admission for this programme every year.

The revised version of the programme is being offered from January 2008.

From January 2004, the 3rd programme namely, Bachelor in Social Work (BSW) was

launched both in English and Hindi. This programme is also on offer in Nepal. In

the first batch we had 726 students and there is a steady growth in the number

of students seeking admission for this programme. In 2008 about 3000 students

have taken admission for this programme. This unique initiative of CBCI Chair

has taken Social Work education for the first time to far flung areas such as

the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and all the States in the North Eastern part of

the country

From July 2008, IGNOU launched the Masters' Degree programme in Social Work

(MSW). In the first year of its launch, about one thousand students have taken

admission for it. From this year MSW will also be offered both in English and

Hindi and the enrolment is likely to go up.

From January 2009 we have started a one year Post Graduate Diploma Programme in

Social Work (PGDSW). The PGDSW and MSW programmes are offered following modular

approach. A student, after successful completion of PGDSW, can go on to join MSW

2nd year. Similarly, a student who took admission for MSW and may like to

discontinue after completing 1st year will be eligible for a PG Diploma in

Social Work.

The Chair also has added three optional papers of 8 credits each to all the BA,

BSW and B.Com programmes (which would benefit about one lakh students):

(i) Introduction to HIV/AIDS

(ii) Introduction to Family Education, and

(iii) Substance abuse and counseling.

Apart from this there is also an optional paper on " HIV/AIDS: Stigma

Discrimination and Prevention " in the MSW programme. From this year two

compulsory papers have been added to the Teacher Training Programme (B.Ed) of

IGNOU namely:

(i) Introduction to HIV/AIDS and

(ii) Adolescents and Family Education.

About 16,000 students are being admitted to the B.Ed programme each year.

The text books prepared by the Chair are meticulously planned and are credited

to be some of the best self learning materials in higher education system. The

Chair has so far produced about 250 text books in English and Hindi on various

courses having four to six chapters each prepared by the best of experts within

the country. The B.A. Philosophy programme would add another 112 books in

English and Hindi.

It is a matter of pride that IGNOU has established ten new Schools and the

School of Social Work houses all the programmes of study on Social Work and

HIV/AIDS developed by the Chair. Above all one dozen faculty positions have been

created by IGNOU to take care of these programmes along with necessary support

staff and infrastructure.

For the PGDSW and MSW programmes, the College of Social Work of Florida State

University, USA has extended its expertise both for curriculum designing as well

as for development of course materials.

One of the unique contributions of the Chair to the MSW programme is the

development of the course on the History of Social Work in India, which has

nineteen chapters. Another important milestone of the Chair is the launching of

the MSW programme with specialization in Philanthropic Social Work, which is

perhaps the first such programme of study of its kind anywhere in the World.

In this programme extensive coverage on the vision, mission and activities of

renowned Philanthropists like Mother , Baba Amte, Vinoba Bave etc., are

being covered. The main focus of this programme would be on: " Serving the

Poorest of the Poor " .

IGNOU is also extensively using the Doordarshan/Gyan Darshan and AIR/Gyanvani to

telecast and broadcast various video and audio programmes on these sensitive

topics like HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, counseling etc. IGNOU also involves TV

and Radio for teleconferencing as well as interactive radio Counselling

sessions, thus reaching out to millions across the country.

With the signing of the revised MoU which has incorporated all previous

initiatives and decisions of the Chair, IGNOU is all set to offer a Bachelor

Degree Programme in Philosophy (B.A. Philosophy) from July 2009.

The Vice Chancellor of IGNOU, Prof. Rajashekharan Pillai released the

information brochure for this programme along with the MSW text books prepared

by the Chair during the MoU signing ceremony by giving the first copies to the

President, Vice President and Secretary General of CBCI.

The signing ceremony was attended by the standing committee members along with

the Executive Committee members of CBCI. Oswald Cardinal Gracias, the Vice

President of CBCI, welcomed the dignitaries while Varkey Cardinal Vidayathil,

the President of CBCI, presided over the function. Prof. Rajashekharan Pillai,

was the Chief Guest.

The Vice Chancellor had a fruitful academic interaction with the standing

committee members. Prof. Gracious , coordinator of CBCI Chair made a brief

presentation of the report of the CBCI Chair and its activities during the past

nine years.

Most Rev. Dr Stanislaus Fernandes, Secretary General, CBCI, and Mr. U.S. Tolia,

Registrar IGNOU, were the signatories to the MoU on behalf of CBCI and IGNOU

respectively. The Secretary General proposed Vote of Thanks.

During the interaction with the dignitaries, the IGNOU Vice Chancellor

highlighted the important milestones of IGNOU and appreciated the work of the

CBCI Chair at IGNOU. He also assured the dignitaries that IGNOU would extend all

possible assistance to various institutions, where students of IGNOU would be

able to carry out various programmes of study including Philosophy.

IGNOU is the largest University in the world today with over two million

students. Over six lakhs students are enrolled annually. IGNOU has 62 Regional

Centers across the country and over 2000 study centers. Over 40,000 teachers

from various Universities and colleges support IGNOU's classroom teaching as

part time academic counselors covering about 200 programmes of study.

IGNOU has about 40 overseas centres and its degrees and diplomas have the

approval and recognition of the University Grants Commission, Association of

Indian Universities and other accreditation bodies and councils. In fact more

than 400 colleges from across the country are collaborating with IGNOU in its

convergence scheme.

The Coordinator of the CBCI Chair since February 2000 has been Prof. Gracious

who holds BSW, MSW, Ph.D and D.Litt in Social Work. He has served IGNOU

as Director of two Schools and a Centre namely, School of Continuing Education,

National Centre for Disability Studies and now the School of Social Work.

As an established scholar and committed faculty, Prof. has authored 20

books, edited over 200 books and has numerous research papers and other

publications to his credit. He is a Consultor to Pontifical Council for Health

Pastoral Care, Vatican, and was a visiting Professor to some of the finest

Universities abroad including the Florida State University, USA and the

Manchester Metropolitan University, U.K. Apart from his frequent appearance in

Doordarshan Channels, AIR and Private T.V. network Prof. was interviewed

by Vatican Radio and T.V on several occasions.

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