After 1-year gap, non-violence course to return at Mahatma Gandhi-founded Gujarat Vidyapith
The four-month diploma programme offered by the Faculty of Gandhian Studies will launch on October 2 to mark the birth of Mahatma Gandhi and conclude on his martyrdom day on January 30.
'Last year, attempts were made to incorporate the course as per NEP guidelines, which stipulate that a diploma course should be of six months minimum. For this, we even tried to offer two months online and four months offline, but due to different time zones, this could not take off,' Professor Prem Anand Mishra, Dean, Faculty of Gandhian Studies, told The Indian Express.
Launched in 2011, the course is free. As of its last session in 2023, 94 students from 21 countries have completed it. The course will return from the ongoing academic year as a certificate programme.
'In the process of streamlining it with the UGC guidelines, things got delayed and thus it could not be offered last year,' Harshad Patel, Vice-Chancellor, Gujarat Vidyapith, said.
Barring a gap of two years owing to the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in restricted air travel and physical classes, 2024 was the first time the course was discontinued.
Post-pandemic, it created a record in 2023 with 13 foreign students from eight countries, including Russia, Mauritius, Spain and Venezuela, getting enrolled, the highest number of countries represented to date. So far, the highest enrolment was seen in 2017-18, with 15 students; the lowest was 2 students, both from Mexico, in 2016 amid speculation of a war-like situation as the course was to start a few days after the Uri attack.
'Though there is a growing interest worldwide, particularly in the West, about Gandhi and his practice of non-violence, many expressed a desire to get formal training in Gandhian non-violence in India. This was the reason the Gujarat Vidyapith started this international course in 2011. However, while some interested candidates have cited the escalated air travel rates, others have said the cost of travel pinches because of unemployment,' Mishra said.
The International Course on Gandhian Non-violence: Theory and Application will be announced on the university website this week.
The course is funded by the Gujarat Vidyapith Mandal, and the travel cost is borne by the candidates. Students of different age groups are accommodated in the international hostel on a twin-sharing basis on the Vidyapith campus. A special kitchen, with a cook, is set up where students can get food of their choice.
The university also offers practical sessions, including a visit to Gandhian institutes like Gandhi Research Foundation in Jalgaon, Sampoorna Kranti Vidyalaya in Vedchi, and Lok Bharati Gramvidyapith Sanosara in Bhavnagar.
While the course content largely remains the same, minor changes are incorporated based on the students. 'It is not entirely content-driven but flexible…for instance, in one year, a majority of the students had an activist bent, so we changed the delivery accordingly, focusing the discussions on activism,' Mishra explained.
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