The 3rd Tibetan School Counselors Conference cum Workshop organized by Guidance & Counseling section, Department of Education kicked off today at 9:30 A.M at the Conference Hall, Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, Dharamsala.

Ms. Donkar Wangmo, Chief Counselor, on behalf of the Department of Education and on her own behalf welcomed the presenters and the participants to the 3rd Tibetan School Counselors’ Conference cum Workshop. She also said that the purpose of holding the Conference cum Workshop is to provide professional enrichment to the Tibetan school counselors as well as a platform to meet and exchange experiences with each other. The Department of Education has invited distinguished experts as resource persons from overseas in the past many years but this year the Department was able to invite group of professionals who have long standing record of experiences particularly in the field of counseling practically able to interact with novice Tibetan counsellor professionals practising in schools which is in keeping with the guidance of HH the Dalai Lama to interact with professionals in the same field from other countries.

Then the participants introduced themselves one by one. After this, the chief guest, Mr. Topgyal Tsering, Additional Secretary, Department of Education spoke on the dire need of counselors in the Tibetan schools across India. He has also stressed on the significant role of counselors in the holistic development of student’s personality as well as urged the school counselors to help enable the student attain optimum self-actualization.

The conference cum workshop is for five days beginning from June 11 to 15, 2012. There will be 20 sessions excluding the inaugural and closing ceremony. Today the presenters will get audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama at 11:45 A.M

In the course of this workshop the Presenters will touch on various aspects of counseling. Dr. Sachin Jain from Oakland University will talk on “Revisiting American Counseling Association Code of Ethics”, Geshe Ven. Lhakdor, Director of Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, “Cultivating Peace & Compassion in Students and Tibetan Buddhist Technique of Mindfulness in Increasing Concentration”; Professor, Dr. Rita Sommers-Flanagan, Head of Counselor Education Department, University of Montana, USA “Counseling Difficult Youths: Ten Techniques & Using the Holland Concepts to Guide Career Self – Awareness”; Dr. Darlene A. Groomes, Associate Professor, Oakland University, USA “What is Inclusive Education and How Do Strategies Assist in Adaptation to Disability?”; Professor Dr. Christopher J Rybak, Bradley University, USA & Dr. D. Sathaye, BHMS from Pune, “Group Work as Satsang: Learning from an Indian tradition”; Ms. Rylee Sommers-Flanagan, Graduate student, University of St. Andrews, Scotland, “Art Therapy: Activities for Empowerment of Kids”; Dr. Susan Stuntzner, Assistant Professor, Idaho University, USA, “Use of Assessments in Counseling”; Mr. Brian Wummel, Graduate student, Oakland University, USA, “Forgiveness as a Goal of Therapy” and finally Dr. Analpe Paranjpe, Private Consultant, Psychoeducational Consultancy, Pune, “Indian Child Intelligence Test: Its Efficacy in Guidance and Counseling of School Children”.

The methods employed during the workshop will be presentation, discussion, role-play, group work and interactive session.

There are 16 participants of whom 5 are from Department of Education, 8 from Tibetan Children’s Village, one each from Tibetan Homes Foundation, Snow Lion Foundation Nepal and Department of Health, CTA, Dharamsala.

Dr. Lobsang Sangay, the Kalon Tripa cum Education Kalon will grace the closing ceremony of the workshop on June 14, 2012. Kalon Tripa will give away the certificates and mementoes to the participants and the presenters.

The first Tibetan School Conference cum Workshop was held in 2008 and the second in 2010 which were funded by Population Refugee Migration (PRM) USA. Today’s conference cum workshop was funded by SOIR-IM, Sweden.