Dharamshala: The three-month intensive awareness programme on Secular Ethics in eight Tibetan schools in South India was successfully completed on 12 December. The awareness programme is an initiative of the Department of Education, CTA which was led by Geshe Lharampa Yeshi Gyaltsen, DoE’s mentor on Secular Ethics.
Geshe Lharampa Yeshi Gyaltsen began the programme in STS Mundgod on 3 September followed by other seven Tibetan schools in South India, spending one to three weeks in each school.
Geshe Yeshi Gyaltsen was able to create a deeper understanding and better implementation of Secular Ethics in self and others amongst 272 teachers, 2450 students and 170 parents in the three months. He arranged separate classes for students, teachers and parents; he further divided the students according to their age level, speaking to them in accordance with their level of understanding. Every class and talk included Q&A sessions at the end.
The Department of Education has conducted a couple of awareness programmes on Secular Ethics in the preceding years; to Tibetan students in Tibetan and Indian colleges and universities in 2017, followed by six-month awareness programme in all the Tibetan schools and settlements in India and Nepal last year.
Both the programmes had received positive response from the participants and requests came for a similar programme on a frequent basis for longer durations. Hence, this year, the department succeeded in arranging such programmes for every school in South India to benefit from the presence of the mentor from one to three weeks in their respective schools.
Geshe Yeshi Gyaltsen spent quality time from 3 to 21 September at STS Mundgod, followed by two weeks at STS Middle School Mundgod and another two weeks at STS Primary School Mundgod. He also talked to around 90 parents in Mundgod Doegu-Ling Settlement.
He then spent one week each in all the three schools in Byllakuppe from 1 to 23 November, followed by a separate talk to home mothers of TCV Bylakuppe and around 80 parents in both the settlements.
He met with teachers and students of STS Gurupura at Hunsur Rabgyal-Ling Tibetan settlement from 25 to 30 November and conducted a two-day awareness programme at STS Kollegal. The stipulated dates of the awareness programme at STS Kollegal coincided with their periodic exams, and hence the programme had to be rescheduled on 12 and 13 December.
The Education department gathered feedback from teachers and students from four schools regarding the programme on Secular Ethics. The feedback represented a unanimous expression of appreciation for the programme and contentment for the knowledge they received from the mentor.
The three-month intensive awareness programme has been generously funded by Fonds De Dotation Mon Kontan Ou from France.
–Filed by the Department of Education