Workshop on SEE Learning and Cognitively based Compassion Training held at Dharamshala – Administrative Training and Welfare Society

Workshop on SEE Learning and Cognitively based Compassion Training held at Dharamshala

Education Secretary, Mr. Jigmey Namgyal la delivering key note speech

By ATWS Staff Editor

ATWS Dharamshala, June 3, 2024 : The Department of Education, CTA organized the workshop on SEE Learning and Cognitively based Compassion Training at the Administrative Training and Welfare Society Dharamshala from May 29 to June 2, 2024. ATWS facilitated the Training with venue and service facilities.

Around forty-one participants including thirty-eight teachers of Tibetan Schools under STSS, TCV, THF Mussoorie, SLF Nepal, a private Public School in Ladakh, and three Administrative officials from the Education Department attended the workshop.

Prof. Lobsang Tenzin la Negi , Executive Director of the Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics at Emory, and Mr. Tsondue Samphel la, SEE Learning International Coordinator of Emory University United States of America, facilitated the workshop sessions.

The Inaugural ceremony was presided over by Chief Guest, the Education Secretary, Mr. Jigmey Namgyal la along with the Training Facilitators and the Education Department officials.

In his keynote speech, Education Secretary Mr. Jigme la said that the Department prioritizes implementing the SEE learning program in Schools and Colleges as it is a vision of His Holiness the Dalai lama and also that it aligns with the purpose of Education for Tibetan people to preserve and promote Tibetan rich culture and tradition as stated in the Basic Education Policy, where culture stands for the inner value of desirable conduct and thinking.

Cautioning about the growing autocratic Nationalism amongst many world leaders today, he emphasized cultivating a rational inquiry mindset in children right from early childhood concerning teaching Dialectic practices in Schools. Further, he elucidated the potential scope SEE Learning has on bettering humanity in the future by sharing about a News report on the benefits of implementing the Happiness Curriculum in Delhi schools and then implored the participants to learn optimally from the workshop, internalize the ethical values, and integrate them with the various other subjects in their respective schools.

Prof. Lobsang Tenzin la Negi spoke extensively on the significance of SEE Learning, how it evolved, and its relevance to Modern Human Society with a comprehensive empirical data. He shared that Education Professionals conceived the idea of promoting socio-emotional education based on primary Socio-emotional skills of self-awareness, Self-regulation, Empathy, Interpersonal relations, and Responsible Decision Making after finding that modern education meant only for materialistic development and was inadequate for the holistic development of a child.

“ Research findings from a Meta-Analysis conducted on over one million students to study the benefit of such syllabi showed that Children with Socio-emotional Learning showed ten percent higher Pro-Social behaviors, ten percent lesser anti-social behaviors, and eleven percent higher intellect than those without SEL in the west. The SEE Learning stemmed from His Holiness’s vision and has even more widespread and a holistic content. Renowned American Psychologist Dr. Daniel Goleman stated that SEE Learning is SEL 2.0 and called it the ‘Best in class’ in his research paper. ” said Prof. Lobsang Tenzin la Negi.

Further, he added that the Piramal Foundation in India along with Himachal state Government enacted implementation of SEE Learning in all Himachal Schools by co-signing the letter of intent recently and the foundation reported the introduction of SEE Learning in one lakh schools in India and received much positive feedback from school Principals and Teachers on a complete transformation of the entire school ecosystem, improved Principal-Teacher and Teacher-student relationship and trust, and many positive feed backs even from parents. Another survey study from a private school in the west showed one hundred percent of the students attending Colleges by achieving good academic results after the initiation of the CBCT (Cognitively- based Compassion Training ) program. Thus, SEE Learning not only impacted the socio-ethical conduct of the students but also their intellect. Hence, the positive outlook toward SEE Learning and its impact on prevailing world peace was universal. Today, forty countries and sixty organizations are implementing SEE Learning. Therefore, the implementation of SEE learning in Tibetan Schools is considered very important and said that their participation in this workshop over here and sharing their learned knowledge with other teachers to ultimately reach students is something that can be considered the best ultimate service to humanity.

Preceding the above two speeches, the The Education Council Office Head, Additional Secretary, Mrs. Tenzin Pema la, introduced that the objective of the workshop is to deepen their understanding of SEE learning concepts following an online training run for them for the past seven months since last October and to hone their facilitation skills further as they would be certified as SEE Learning Facilitators in the coming two months. Recognizing the dedication of the current batch and the previous batch, she encouraged them to prioritize meaningful completion of the program as the department anticipates the availability of full-fledged facilitators in thirty-five Tibetan Schools in the coming few years and requested them to make an effort to implement their learning in daily real life situations for that would contribute directly towards fulfilling His Holiness vision.

The inaugural ceremony concluded with a brief vote of thanks by Section Officer, Ms. Karma Dekyi la.

The workshop is said to have included various PowerPoint presentations on SEE learning concepts by the participants in the presence of the two Facilitators, followed by Q & A sessions. Along with that, the facilitators also shared their insights on the significance and practice of SEE Learning, Framework of SEE Learning, Compassion, Empathy, Self- compassion, Resilience, Interdependence, Emotion and Emotional timeline, System thinking, Implementation of SEE learning, Pedagogy and Analytical Meditation.