Series of workshops on gender equality in higher education concludes
ALIGARH : The Women’s College, Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies (ACWS), Aligarh Muslim University, jointly conducted a series of gender sensitisation workshops as part of the British Council project titled, “Furthering Gender Equality in Higher Education in India”. Savitribai Phule University (SBPU), Pune and Brunel University London, along with nine other higher education institutions are partnering with AMU in this project.
Prof. Roop Rekha Verma, Prof. Syeda Saiyidain Hameed, Prof. Dipta Bhog, Advocate Sanchita Ain, and Sohnee Harshey, Sinu Sugathan, Nupur Jain and Bhavya Gupta were the resource persons.
Addressing a special session for the administrative staff, the AMU Vice Chancellor, Prof. Tariq Mansoor urged the participants to ponder over issues regarding gender equality on the campus and discuss strategies to sensitize people and promote the best practices for equality in education.
Dr. Swati Dyahadroy, a faculty member at the Centre for Women’s Studies, SBPU, Pune, conducted the workshop for the support staff at the Women’s College on “Gender Awareness and Furthering Gender Equality” and emphasized their role in creating a congenial environment for gender equality on campus, while researchers from Nirantar and Centre for Women’s Studies, SBPU, Sinu Sugathan and Nupur Jain conducted workshops with student participants at the Advanced Centre of Women’s Studies on “Understanding gender and equality in higher education”.
Prof. Dipta Bhog, Co-founder, Nirantar (a Centre for Gender and Education, Delhi) conducted a workshop with the teachers at Women’s College on 22 December on “Gender in Education.” She elaborated on the entrenched discriminatory gender practices in education and the need to identify the inequalities to bring change.
Prof. Syeda Saiyidain Hameed, Founder, Muslim Women’s Forum, India flagged the specific gender issues on the campus that need to be addressed for a better campus climate and academic life for students.
Noted educationist and social activist and founder of Saajhi Duniya, Prof. Roop Rekha Verma conducted a round-table discussion with Prof. Dipta Bhog, Dr. Swati Dyahadroy and Adv. Sanchita Ain, Advocate-on-Record, Supreme Court of India, and opened the house for discussion on the issues of women on the AMU campus.
Prof. Roomana N. Siddiqui introduced the guests while Prof. Naima Khatoon, Principal, Women’s College and Prof. Azra Musavi, Director, ACWS, along with Prof. Imrana Naseem and Prof. Munira T supervised the series of the workshops.
Prof. Nazia Hasan and Dr. Shadab Bano were the coordinators.