Two– Day MDP on School Leadership concludes at ICccR & HRM, JU in collaboration with JSSC

Two-Day Management Development Programme (MDP) organized by International Centre for Cross Cultural Research and Human Resource Management (ICccR & HRM), University of Jammu in collaboration with Jammu Sahodaya School Complex (JSSC) concluded today. The MDP was organized with the objective of training and developing contemporary leadership skills aligned to the changing needs of schools and the society at large amongst school leaders and principals. The MDP also aimed at imparting the knowledge that can facilitate in improving educational outcomes by understanding how to effectively manage change, fostering a climate conducive to high performance, and promoting the pillars of a high-performing institution. The resource person for the MDP was Dr. Kathan Dushyant Shukla, Chairperson, Ravi J. Matthai Centre for Educational Innovation, Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad. Mr. Ashok Sharma, Director, School Education, Jammu was the chief guest and Ms. Subah Mehta, Joint Director, School Education, Jammu was the guest of honour for the valedictory ceremony. 

Across the two days, Dr. Kathan trained the participating principals and school leaders to learn about leadership through the lens of contemporary management and business strategies. On day one, Dr. Kathan Dushyant Shukla started the session with some real-life cases highlighting the social and emotional climate of schools in India. Speaking upon the cases, Prof. Kathan discussed the role of school management and leadership in building a positive school climate for improving student achievements and a sense of belonging to the institution. In the second session, the resource person highlighted the role of positive school climate as the mediators of students learning and achievement, enhancing school connectedness, empowerment, authentic engagement and motivation. On day two, Dr. Kathan discussed the concept of emotion regulation and various healthy emotion regulation strategies that can be effective in helping to regulate emotions. 

In his concluding remarks the resource person emphasized upon schools and other academic institutions as core human centric organizations wherein consistent efforts are needed in maintaining a positive climate. For maintaining positive climate all dimensions of school climate need leader’s attention. It’s a school leader’s job to create a climate where people can grow as human beings and practice academic rigor and remain healthy emotionally, psychologically and physically.

During the valedictory session, Mr. Ashok Sharma, Director, School Education, Jammu highlighted the importance of inclusive learning at school level in today’s dynamic environment. He emphasized that a high level of management and leadership ability is necessary to overcome the obstacles that may arise during the execution of such transition towards inclusive learning. He appreciated the efforts of ICccR & HRM, University of Jammu and JSSC for organising the MDP with resource persons from reputed institution of IIM, Ahmedabad. He also expressed his views for organising such programmes in future for other schools and educational institutions of UT of Jammu & Kashmir, especially for government funded schools and institution.

Mr. Rajesh Rathore, President, Jammu Sahodaya School Complex, and Principal, J K Public School, Jammu shared his learning experiences from the MDP and appreciated the programme methods namely case study and gamification used by the resource person. 

Ms. Subah Mehta, Joint Director, School Education, Jammu; Ms. Mamta Sharma, Deputy Director School Education and Dr. Kunal Anand, Vice President, Jammu Sahodaya School Complex and Principal, DPS, Udhampur also appreciated the idea of organising the MDP on school leadership.

In her address, Professor Hardeep Chahal, Director, ICccR & HRM, University of Jammu and MDP Chair underscored the significance of leadership-centric initiatives, advocating their transformative potential in reshaping the institutions. She also emphasized that in order to achieve the goal of reshaping schools and academic institutions into "institutes of excellence”, leadership based programmes are pivotal for the success of the institutions. She thus highlighted the significance of organising this MDP in alignment with the same.

Over 40 participants including principals, leaders, managers and government official from across various districts of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, participated in the MDP. 

The MDP was sponsored by Nimbark Organic, Talla Jewellers, JGK Brick Kilns and Culture Fit. Dr. Pallvi Arora and Dr. Isha Sharma were the coordinators of the MDP. Dr. Pallvi Arora presently at Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland, UK extended her support online. Dr. Neha Gupta conducted the felicitation ceremony and Dr. Isha Sharma presented the formal vote of thanks. Dr. Swati Sharma, Dr. Bhanu Pratap Singh and Dr. Shivani Rana, coordinated the event.