Saturday, July 18, 2020

The Grand Finale of the 25th PN Panicker Reading Month Activities.

Prologue 

Maman and I'd discussed elaborate plans for the commemoration of the 25th Remembrance Day/Year of PN Panicker. Accordingly, a yatra by us was planned, this time, from Manjeswaram (the north) to Parassala (the south), timed to finish by 01 Mar, Muthachhan's 111th birthday. The unveiling of Muthachhan's statue followed by the Reading Day/Reading Month activities commencing 19 Jun was also carefully put down.

And then came the pandemic, upsetting our entire plan like a pack of cards. Maman was distraught and we used to speak many-a-time in a day, sharing our apprehensions. I used to tell Maman - I normally do this when things don't move as planned - that Muthachhan would, surely, show us the way at the appropriate time. And he did! We, for the first time, discussed about going in for a digital format to conform to the requirement of social distancing and the inevitability of not having a huge audience - the tell tale aspect of the Reading Day/Reading Month activities having become a people's movement!

And Maman went about in a meticulous manner through the Foundation's contacts, all over India, to put our thoughts into a workable format!

Epilogue   

The closing ceremony of the 25th Reading Month Activities - 2020 was presided over by Sri Arif Mohammed Khan, the Honourable Governor of Kerala, at a digital function held in the Raj Bhavan, at Thiruvananthapuram, today, between 1700 and 1800 hrs.

The ceremony also saw the end of our apprehensions that we had - just prior to the commencement of the activities on 19 Jun, about making the Reading Month a success - in these times of severe lock down and restrictions in the movement/assembling of people. Since the Reading Day/Month activities is a people's movement, our efforts to configure the entire programme into a digital format bore fruition and it enhanced the footprints of the PN Panicker Foundation pan-India, as we had access into the remotest corners of India. The Niti Aayog and the National Digital Library of India(NDLI) gave us

The chief minister had kick started the activities through a digital function, at his office in Thiruvananthapuram, on 19 Jun at 1500 hrs.

A total of 24 webinars were organised during the month long period, the details of which are appended below :-

(a) Democracy and Peaceful Life                           
      Prof PJ Kurien, Former Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha.
(b) Problems and Prospects of Online Education   
      Sri MA Baby, Former Education Minister, Government of Kerala.
(c) New Education Policy of India                         
      Sri. Kummanam Rajasekharan, Former Governor of Mizoram.
(d) Higher Education : A Different Thought           
      Dr KT Jaleel, Minister for Higher Education, Government of Kerala.
(e) Evolution and Growth of National Reading Month Celebrations     
      Sri K Jayakumar, IAS, Director, Institute of        Management.
(f) Creation of Learning Materials Using The NDLI       
     Dr PP Chakraborty, Principal Investigator NDLI
(g) Policy Approach for Environmental Protection and Management
      Dr Afroz Ahmad, Advisor, Government of Maharashtra.               
(h) Competency based Education System to Build Citizens for 21st Century.           
      Sri Manoj Ahuja, IAS, Chairman, CBSE.
(j)  Universalization of Education                           
      Sri N Balagopal, Vice Chairman, PN Panicker Foundation.
(k) Impact of Covid-19 on School Education         
      Dr Prem Singh, IAS, Advisor, NITI Aayog.
(l)  Covid-19 and Digital Libraries                         
      Prof Parta Pratim Das, Joint Principal Investigator NDLI.
(m)The Role of Academic Libraries in the Promotion of Reading Habits           
      Dr Basheerhamad Shadrach, Advisor , Skills, Commonwealth of Learning.
(n) Copyrights Law and Digital Libraries             
      Prof Prabuddha Ganguli, Co-Principal Investigator, NDLI.
(p) Digital Reconstruction of Temples                   
      Prof Sambit Datta, Visiting Professor, Curtin University, Australia
(q) NDLI in Indian Languages                               
      Dr PK Bhowmick, Co-Principal Investigator, NDLI.
(r) Importance of Reading for the Nation's Children During Pandemic
     Dr Geeta Malhotra, Country Director, Read India, New Delhi.
(s) Hygiene and Health of School Going Children             
     Dr Pankaj Kumar Srivastava, Founder, Janus Initiatives.
(t)  Financial Education for Children
      Dr KP Vijaya Kumar, Former Professor of Library Science, Kerala University.
(u) NDLI User Awareness Session                     
      Dr Vignesh Sornamohan, Chief Strategic and Outreach Officer, NDLI.
(v) Library Enhances Reading Habits                     
      Dr V Padmavathy, HoD, Hindi, PSGR Krishnammal College for Women.
(w)Stories from India                                             
      Sri Vikram Sridhar, Story Teller.
(x) New Dimensions in Education                         
      Sri BS Bhasi, Chairman, Universal Edutec Campus, Tvpm.
(y) Lock down and Its Implications on Mental Health     
      Dr KR Priya, Consultant, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare.
(z) Preservation of Manuscripts and Books Post Covid-19           
      Dr P Perumal, State Co-ordinator, Tamilnadu Manuscripts Mission.

The results of a number of online competitions and activities which were organised for children across different age groups, during the period, were announced on the occasion and the comprehensive list will be published on the Foundation's website by Monday, the 20th.


Tailpiece.

Got up at our usual time, the chores and was ready by a half past 9. Suma did a fantastic job of clearing up the backyard of all coconut husk and shells. She's a hard worker, all right and God bless her!

Participated in the evening's webinar.

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