It is a matter of pride and great honour for the city of Ludhiana that Dr. Balwant Singh, Principal, Partap College of Education, has been awarded the title of Fellow of the International Professional Development Association at University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland, UK. The Association was founded in 1968 as the in-service section of what was then the Association of Teachers in Colleges and Departments of Education. In recent years IPDA has encouraged the growth of regional and national associations. IPDA India. It is because of his untiring efforts towards the field of education and especially the professional development of teachers; his valuable contribution in the establishment of the India chapter of IPDA, that he was bestowed upon this esteemed title of Fellow this year.
Dr. Balwant Singh first went to attend an IPDA conference five years ago. Since then he set up IPDA India and for the last two years have seen growth in membership. He serves on the international committee as a co-opted member. For the last three years Partap College of Education, Ludhiana, has been the venue for the IPDA India International Conference. This has been supported by especially those members of IPDA committee, who have addressed the conferences as keynote speakers. Each year the conference has grown and has attracted lecturers, teachers, school principals and government officials. The State officials and his peers have high regard for him because of his dedicated work in professional development much of which has been against the odds. He is a lone figure in championing this area. The IPDA fellowship is acknowledging the distinguished achievements of Dr. Balwant Singh with IPDA India.
Born in a simple and small farmers’ family on 8th July 1951 in the Village Bhurey, District Sangrur, he has faced many hardships for schooling and higher education. He studied in government institutions throughout his life cause of high quality education, deep sense of commitment of hard working teachers and lowest fee structure which actually helped him to continue his education. He studied at Punjabi University, Patiala for Post graduation in Human Biology and then shifted to Education arena and completed his graduation and post graduation in this field also from Govt. College of Education, Patiala. While serving at National Council of Educational Research & Training (Govt. of India) New Delhi, got fellowship for research and completed the Doctorate of Philosophy degree in Education from Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla.
Prof. Balwant Singh is an educationist of international repute, a thinker, a writer, a moral Philosopher and able administrator. He has spent an entire life time in the field of Education. He has to his credit a vast experience of about 40 years, out of which 22 years of teaching and 18 years of administration. Balwant Singh is a member of the Board of Studies and Academic Council, Panjab University Chandigarh and a Member of the Indian Institute of Public Administration, government of India, New Delhi. He is also the member of visiting team of NCTE and has inspected more than 120 Educational Institutions in the Country.
He has a high level of social commitment for community service and has made his mark in working towards a lot of social welfare projects. While serving at Punjabi University, he got an opportunity to head the National Service Department as Programme Coordinator. Prepared and motivated teachers and NSS volunteers for various projects like:
Blood Donation Camps in collaboration with Blood banks of PGI Chandigarh, Govt. Rajendera Hospital, Patiala and Red Cross Society Punjab.
Environment Protection Campaign to ‘Go Green’ in the whole state of Punjab. One Lac saplings were planted during the year 1999-2000.
Drug de-addiction centre was established in collaboration with Red Cross Society Bathinda having 50 beds, in the year 1998-99. Donated 2000 books for the library of this centre.
He also organized National Integration Camps at National level; undertook a desilting project of Sukhna Lake.
He established Partap Social Welfare and Development Centre at Village Partap Singh Wala (Ludhiana) in the year 1998 for the poor people of surrounding areas. Free tailoring and sewing Centre for Women, free English and Punjabi type coaching centre, free basic computer education centre for poor students is being run since the year 1999. No fee is charged since its inception. An additional unit is attached for the Skill Development Abilities.
His publications include books on subjects of Philosophies of Education, Audio-Visual Education, Population Education and Locus of Control, Philosophical Perspectives of Education. He has reviewed Four International Text Books from University of Glasgow Scotland and Aston University Birmingham, U.K. He has made significant contributions in a large number of national and international journals.
He has delivered special talks on Radio and Television. He has also been involved into the preparation of a video film on the problems of students, which was sponsored by Ministry of HRD, Government of India.
While responding to the question as to how we need to develop a penetrating outlook towards the ever changing scenario of the field of education he said, “The old and the new are always interacting with each other. Therefore, sticking to the old patterns would only turn all our systems obsolete. Life today is not what it used to be 10 years back. How can we apply the decade old systems to our values today? We have to revise ourselves every morning. Change must be accepted and assimilated. But we must make sure that the change does not change us altogether. We must remain the same though we get on with the current and the flow of life.”
“Education is to deal with Body, the Mind and the Spirit of Man. Feeding the body alone is not all about education. It is a matter of giving him ‘Sanskara’. Nurturing the body, enriching the mind but neglecting the spirit has led to a moral chaos in society which we are witnessing today. Empowering people for jobs in the beginning of Education, not its end. Education must lead to enlightenment and betterment of human stuff which is nowhere to be seen today.” This is what we need to understand he emphasized.
The message he wanted to convey with a view to keep on track the professional development of teachers, for which he has been striving hard continuously, he said, “Synthesis is the right ‘mantra’ to stay relevant. We must realize immediately what has outlived its utility and it must be torn away. We have to embrace the new systems but not without deliberation. We have to ensure that the new we are going to assimilate must not cause nightmares to our growth track. It must not kill our ethos.”
Principal
Partap College of Education
Ludhiana