Banaras Hindu University has implemented a comprehensive plan focusing on various aspects of the holistic development of its students. These include workshops and sessions for students as well as teachers in order to enable them to better understand various aspects of the psychological well-being of students.
The latest in this direction is a dedicated workshop for the policymakers or top academic administrators of the university. The first workshop took place on Monday, February 19, with nearly 40 participants and the Vice-Chancellor Prof Sudhir Kumar Jain was in attendance with Registrar Prof Arun Kumar Singh, directors of institutes, deans of faculties, and other senior functionaries of the university.
Being conducted in association with Maanas, an organisation working for transformation through psychological self-awareness, the I Care workshop helps participants prepare to connect to self and others by way of developing higher consciousness towards their own psychological body. It helps them experience their own psychological processes in action and become aware of their own developmental history, both as individuals and that of students.
This enhanced awareness and sensitivity is translated to an attitudinal shift in connecting with their students empathically. The sessions also help faculty members gain a better understanding of the components of the psychological self, and how psychological well-being could be compromised.
During the workshop, attendees were involved in various activities, like performing a skit or expressing before the audience the psychological state of youngsters from a specific time period, in order to enable them to understand the intricacies of how the youth think or process things. As the participants brainstormed and thought through various aspects, they also exchanged views on integrating the missing link of psychological literacy and self-awareness.
