The Organic Farming Association of India (OFAI) organizes its convention of organic farmers every two years in a different State. This year’s convention is scheduled to be held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Earlier conventions were held in Wardha (Maharashtra) in 2006, Trichy (Tamilnadu) in 2008 and Anand (Gujarat) in 2010.

The convention will be limited to 500 persons, on a first-come, first served basis. All OFAI State Secretariats have been allowed quotas for participation. OFAI members will get priority for registering.

Most interesting aspect of the convention is the demos that are organised on organic farming techniques. These are conducted by experienced organic farmers from all over the country.

Download the brochure and registration form for ensuring you are there.

A WORKSHOP ON ORGANIC FARMERS’ LEARNING, EXPERIENCE AND INSIGHTS

OFAI in association with ICRA, Bengaluru, India

29 & 30, October, 2011. Read the rest of this entry »

The present schooling system and its curriculum have not changed fundamentally over the past 200 years. The current system owes much to the thinking and prejudices of its originator, notably, T.B. Macaulay (an English Governor General) who prepared its foundation note in 1835. This inheritance from a colonial leadership was merged at some level with the recommendations of American educationists, most notably the Committee of 10, set up by Harvard in the 1890s.

The objectives of the Macaulay system are specific to India and do not reflect the concerns of the education system from Macaulay’s own country.

As a result of these controlling influences, the curriculum for learning receded further and further away from real life – and from learning in and from real life – to learning in artificial environments called classrooms where children are now fed huge quantities of so-called knowledge from text books for a decade of their lives and more. The lessons from such text books have very little direct or meaningful connection with the living world outside school walls. The ultimate result leads to a cramming of facts and information and an almost complete debunking and downplaying of any experience outside the text book. Read the rest of this entry »