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Jain Digest Jain Center of America hosts education conference
It was clear from the presentation that the Jain teachers are a unique breed of people.
By Yogendra Jain (Boston)
The JAINA Education Conference took place in New York on December 21-22 under the leadership of Dr. Prem Gada of Lubbock, TX. Over 40 teachers and scholars from all over the U.S. gathered. The goal of the conference was to find a common curriculum that could be used at the respective centers.
Several goals were set:
To see how various centers were teaching and motivating Jain youngsters, youths and parents to participate in Pathshalas.
To establish a Pathshala even in the homes.
To establish new teaching techniques that can be incorporated to make teaching practical and interesting.
To develop a curriculum which addresses science and Jainism as it applies to day to day life.
To find what teaching materials are already available and what additional ones need to be developed.
How to qualify Jain teachers to insure quality and correctness of the material that they teach?
To organize the JAINA Education Committee in several sub-committees and recruit members.
After establishing the above goals, each Jain center gave a presentation on how they run their Pathshalas. These pre
sentations provided much needed material which will be used to develop the common curriculum,
Many centers were represented at the meeting. Albany, Jayesh Shah; Boston, Kishore Shah, Yogendra Jain; Chicago, Manu Doshi, Niranjan Shah; Connecticut, Hans Maru; Detroit, Mahendra Shah, Narendra Shah; Houston, Ridhi Desi; New York, Susmita Mehta; New Jersey, Arvind Bhandari, Binny Mehta; North Carolina, Pravin Shah; North California, Navin Dedia; Rochester, Anop Vora; and Dallas, Pawan Jhaveri.
It was clear from the presentation that the Jain teachers are a unique breed of people. Despite the lack of interest and support from the parents, all the teachers continue to work hard.
After the presentation from the centers a new approach was decided upon.
Incorporate multi-media in teach
rights and applications in day to day life.
Add material on Jain rituals.
• Maintain our original Sanskrit Prakrit/Hindi words in the curriculum.
Teach other religions. Develop a Jain dictionary.
Streamline Pathshala logistics and teaching methods.
Have a teacher-guide to go along with the curriculum.
Many techniques for teaching were developed: start classes with Namokar Mantra and yoga, have debates, use students to teach part of the class, give homework, do group reading, interact with students, have field trips, be caring, have an award system, use only positive reinforcement, and get parents to participate.
The meeting concluded with satisfaction. All of the teachers felt that they were not alone in their endeavors and made determination so that they can work together and benefit our community. For further information on starting a Pathshala contact Dr. Prem Gada at (806) 793-8555 or Yogendra Jain at (617) 237-5997.
ing.
Develop anexamination on Jainism. Include environmentalism, human
Steps are being taken to improve communication Steps are being taken to im
Given below are the names of Washington D.C., Milwaukee, Minneprove the communication between Jain Jain centers and the assigned JAINA Ex-apolis/St. Paul, Cleveland, Atlanta. Cocenters and JAINA. Because of the in. I ecutive. All Jains and Jain centers are re- | lumbus, Orlando, Miami, Ft. Meyers creasing workload, and also to serve the I quested to contact the assigned JAINA and Charlotte. Group four: Dr. Satish Jain community better. JAINA Execu- Executive for all kinds of communication Nayak (314) 394-3195; St. Louis, Tulsa. tives have been assigned responsibili
and feedback as much as possible. Group New Orleans, Houston, Dallas, Lubties. These include
one: Dr. Manibhai Mehta (714) 898-3156; bock, Memphis, Kansas City and Maintain regular contact with as- Los Angeles,L.A. Social Group, San Fran- Bramhi Jain Society. Group five: Dr. signed Jain centers.
cisco, Vancouver, San Diego, Phoenix, Sulekh C. Jain (513) 777-1554; CincinRepresent JAINA at their major and Seattle. Group two: Dr. Mahendra nati/Dayton, Daytona Beach, Jain Med. events and celebrations.
Mehta (416) 241-2044: Toronto, IMJM Int. Center. Group six: Dr. Jagat P. Jain *To provide information about
Canada, Jain Meditation Center Canada, (716) 688-0104 Buffalo, IMIMU.S.A.. activities, resolve any complaints and
Bramhi Society, Ottawa, Montreal, Roch- | Boston, Albany, Allentown, Cherry Hill misunderstandings.
ester, Syracuse, Elmira, London Ontario and Kutchhi Gurjar Jain Society. Group Collect news for Jain Digest. and Edmonton. Group three: Prabodh seven Vinod Doshi (412) 856-9235;
•Be a conduit between Jain center Vaidya (708) 985-9144; Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Raleigh and Jain Sangh of and JAINA.
NI.
2009
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