Jain Digest 1998 04

Author(s): Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA

Page 19

e] hard working staff and nade the conference very learned a lot and met h and [the] nicest people.
Adult Education
In this session, coordinated by Rajni Gosalia and Dinesh Dalal, it was confirmed that only seven of the 20 centers
have regular adult classes. Some of the suggestions to increase participation were to incorporate social elements, have a week long 'Shibir' locally, include study of comparative religion, and develop a stronger curriculum.
New Material Development Plans
This session coordinated by Sudhir Shah of CT concluded that a template and guidelines needs to be developed for all new material development. This template will assure easier development and incorporation of the material in the curriculum process. The team also mentioned the need for good graphics, illustrations, "Americanized English, quality illustrations, and inclusion of photographs.
Evening reception
After a long day of work on Saturday, the day ended with an evening reception with the JCGB community. Pradip Gosalia, President of JCGB thanked the participants for coming to Boston to attend the conference. Dhiraj Shah, President of JAINA, shared JAINA's vision of Jain Education and again confirmed his personal and JAINA's commitment towards this cause. Balbhadraji discussed the "urgency in Jain Education" of not just children but adults as well. An award ceremony was held to acknowledge lasting contribution to Jain Education. The awards were presented to Dr. Prem Gada, Manubhai Doshi, and Pravin Shah. Also part of the program was a multi-media presentation by Dr. Gada on Jain Temples in India. The evening program, which was hosted by Sweta Mepani, general coordinator of the conference, ended with a classical music concert.
On Sunday during the breakfast session, next generation Jain games on CD's developed by Shripal Shah of JCGB, a student in Computer Science was exhibited. After breakfast all the attendees joined for the three breakout sessions, College Level Curriculum Review, Adult Education, and Roles and Responsibilities of Pathshala coordinators.
College Level Education Review Session
In the Youth College Review session, coordinated by Pravin Shah, it was generally agreed that plenty of material exists for this age students. Young Jain Association (YJA), represented by several youth confirmed the leadership role that YJA can play in the disseminating material and promoting education
Roles and Responsibilities of Pathshala Coordinators In this session, coordinated by Shailesh Jain, many ideas were
presented on how to get larger mental share of parent's towards Pathshalas. These ideas include having a Pathshala booth at major Jain functions, start parent classes with parallel student classes, publish a curriculum, use of email and parents post-pathshala meetings to keep them informed.
During the lunch session on Sunday, Kirit Gosalia presented a Multi-Media presentation of Level 3 Curriculum. Also presented were glimpses of Tattvarth Sutra, Ancient Scriptures Come Alive presentation by Parimal Pandya, Archit Shah and Yogendra Jain of JCGB.
After the Sunday lunch, the attendees settled in for some serious learning. Two teams presented a Mini-Workshop on Transliteration. One workshop presented by Darshana Shah and Pankaj Shah gave recommendation on a consistent way to transliterate Jain Stutis, prayers, and words/phrases with an emphasize on correct and original pronunciation. The second part of the workshop was presented by Amar Salgia who presented a practical view on Transliteration.
All attendees agreed that the most fun part of the conference was a presentation by Amita Desai and Smita Doshi on Creative Ways of Teaching Jain Principles to Children. They showed how they teach Jain fundamentals to youngsters using objects around the house. For example a tennis ball thrown on the ground and it bouncing back demonstrates karmic action/reaction; sticking stickers on people based on their action shows karmic inflow and bondage; many bubbles were blown in the air to demonstrate that as bubbles appear and disappear, so does happiness and sorrow. It was obvious to the attendees that by adding this dimension to teaching Jainism, learning is significantly enhanced and that learning process can be fun.
In the Graduation-A Goal and Glory for Students session, Niren Nagda presented Washington, DC's quest to motivate students and parents. They have "formalized and ceremonialized" the learning of Jainism by having graduation ceremony for college bound students. Such formalization gets not only the parents but the community involved and recognizes students and their family's accomplishments in Jainism.
The entire conference was well planned and went very smoothly and mostly on schedule. JCGB definitely was an excellent host. The food was excellent, the weather beautiful, the conference facility calm, peaceful, comfortable and cozy. The host families were warm and caring and all volunteers extremely helpful and friendly.
The conference proceedings will be published in July. A copy will be sent to all participants and presidents of all Jain Centers affiliated with JAINA. Please contact Premchand Gada, Chairman of JAINA Education Committee at 806/ 793-8555; Pankaj Shah 781/449-3297 shahpk@gwsmtp.nu.com or Yogendra Jain 781/ 237-6070 yogendra.jain@radisys.com for further information.