Department of Adult and Continuing Education

About the Department

Profile

The primary objective of the Department is to create awareness among the community people and to disseminate information on important issues at the grass root level with particular reference to overall and diverse learning needs of all segments of the community people and to sensitize community leaders, administrators, political leaders and elders on issues relating to adult literacy, income generation, status of women and women studies, skill improvement activities, population education, consumer protection science temperament. Besides, the Centre is also extending academic support in the development of teaching and learning materials pertaining to societal needs. It also organizes programmes in collaboration with other sister departments of the University and also with State Government Departments and other organizations both at the state and national level.

Thrust Areas of Research

The thrust areas of the Department is to strengthen the teaching learning process of teachers and students through community participation, to establish closer linkage between formal and non- formal education, to identify the community needs, problems, issues, etc and to develop, establish and give an identity to the discipline of Adult Education, Continuing Education, Extension Education (Field Outreach), Literacy, Post Literacy and Universalization of Education. The other thrust areas of the Department also includes Education for Women Empowerment, Environmental Education, Human Rights, Workers Education, Migrants Education, Indigenous Education, HIV/AIDS Education, Adolescence Education, Vocational Education and Training, Information and Communication Technology, Policy Advocacy on Transformation of Adult Learning, Leadership Development and Capacity Building, Science for Masses, Learning Environment and Opportunities for the under privileged, Net Working, Voluntary Action, Action Research, Working with Children, Innovation and Good Practices in Adult Education, E Learning, Counselling and Guidance (Pre-Marital and Career), Teachers Training, Self-Employment, Entrepreneurship, Needs of the Aged and Family Life Education.

The objectives of the Department are:

1. To push forward the recognition of adult learning and education as an important element of lifelong learning, of which literacy is the foundation.
2. To highlight the crucial role of adult learning and education for the realization of current education and development agendas of the state and the country.
3. To renew the momentum for adult learning, adult education, and to develop the teaching tools for adult learners for implementation in order to move from rhetoric to action.
4. To develop appropriate strategies to redress the discrepancy between the insights and discourse on one hand and lack of systematic and effective policies and conditions for adult education and learning on the other.

Brief Statement of Academic Activities

Lifelong Learning and Skill Development has emerged as the key component in the field of Adult and Continuing Education. Keeping this in mind, the department has widened its scope to cover multidisciplinary subjects. The students admitted to this department are drawn from various academic disciplines. The teachers in the department make effort to utilize new techniques of teaching, supplementing lectures with slides presentation, group discussions and exposure trips. The Department offers Open Courses on Extension Education, Rural Development and Human Resource Development. The department also introduced a core paper on Disaster Management which is a relevant subject in this contemporary world. Besides this, the students are taught to develop literary materials such as posters and booklets for the neo- literates on various components of Adult Education in the local dialect. These materials can be used for the benefit of the neo- literates at the grass root level. The department is also involved in Field Outreach and Extension programmes besides Teaching and Research.