Best Practice – 1

Blending Community Knowledge and Generic Skill with Modern Science:
Experiencing Similipal Plant Biodiversity (medicinal plants) in the Campus

The aim of the practice:
Being the abode of many tribal communities, the region of North Odisha has a rich tradition of community knowledge transmitted orally to succeeding generations. Much of it is being lost steadily from the collective memory. Because of the importance of such knowledge system, the UNESCO Declaration on Intangible Cultural Heritage has emphasized on its documentation, preservation and, in case of the extinct ones, even revitalization. Keeping this in view, the University decided to promote, preserve and publicize Similipal biodiversity among scholars, tribal, rural and common citizens through the A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Biodiversity Park in the campus.
Context
In recent years many medicinal plant species are considered to be at risk of extinction on account of two sets of human activities: (a) habitat alteration or destruction derived from change in the use of land, and (b) extraction of wild plants for trade. The recent forest fire in Similipal is also a threat. Hence, it is high time to save the vanishing medicinal plants / species well before the temperature regime become worse, and to grow in a controlled climate with the purpose of production of planting materials needed for restoration. Our university is located in a peripheral zone of Similipal and is the most ideal place for developing such an ex-situ conservation garden that too in almost in-situ condition.
The Practice:
In their traditional healthcare, the tribal people use different parts of various plants for medicinal purposes. There is a steady decline in the number and practice of tribal healers in the locality. Therefore documentation and preservation of such plants and their use as known from communities is a necessary first step in this regard. An example of the blending of community knowledge of medicinal plants with modern science has been undertaken by our scholars of botany and biodiversity conservation by ethnobotanical research and plants used by tribal healers.
The A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Biodiversity Park has been set up with 52 species of medicinal plants with a spread of 2.7 acres of land in the campus. The Park is having infrastructural facilities to grow and rear the plants. It has one shed net house and one moist house to grow the medicinal / herbal plants with all requisite facilities.
The ex-situ conservation of the medicinal plant genetic resources not only caters to the needs of students, faculties and researchers but also provides the plant and plant parts to the local people for preparation of medicines. Some of the important medicinal plants are Plumbago zeylanica, Tinospora cordifolia, Cissampelos pareira, Adrographis paniculata, Gloriosa superba, Rauvolfia serpentina, Saraca asoca, Phyllanthus emblica, Calotropis procera, Abrus precatorius, Withania somnifera, Bacopa monnieri, Hemidesmus indicus, Desmodium gangeticum, Acorus calamus, Aloe vera, Soymida febrifuga, Oroxylum indicum, Paderia foetida, Phyllanthus niruri, Curculigo orchioides, Argyria nervosa, Cycas sphaerica, Santalum album, Pterocarpus santalinus, Libidibia coriaria, Cissus quadrangularis, Podocarpus gracilior, Asparagus racemosus, Eclipta prostrata etc. Thus the Park enables a visitor/student or scholar to experience the diversity of medicinal plants of the Similipal Bio-Sphere Reserve.
Uniqueness of the practice in the Indian Higher Education:
The practice has some uniqueness in the form of appreciating the traditional knowledge of communities with regard to the use of plants for medicinal purposes which are given value addition by use of scientific methods of plant taxonomy and their ex-situ conservation. Hence, this is an example of convergence of traditional knowledge system of communities and modern scientific practices and research.
Constraints and limitations:
Experiencing the plant diversity of Similipal Biosphere Reserve in the campus is limited to medicinal plants only. Because of limited number of plants, it cannot meet the demand of all tribal healers of the region.
Evidence of Success

• Conservation of important medicinal plants of tribal communities
• Fulfilling the requirement of local tribal people for their herbal therapy to certain extent
• Acts as a teaching aid and also creates ample scope for students and researchers for conducting their research work
• Creates awareness of the rich tradition of plant biodiversity of Similipal Biosphere Reserve among the various communities, students, alumni, teachers and staff of the University
• Creating awareness among school and college students for visiting the garden to know about the medicinal plants and realize the importance of herbal medicines in their daily life

It is worth mentioning that Giloy (Tinospora Cordifolia), a herbaceous vine of the family Menispermaceae, profusely growing in Similipal biosphere region and collected and sold by local tribal people is popular for its immunity boosting properties and is regarded as a preventive against Covid 19.
Problems Encountered and Resources Required
Care and maintenance of the Park is of paramount importance which is not very easy. Being located in the campus, land available is limited and the number of plant species conserved is also limited. More land with more number of plants and more human resource are required. Recently much of the plant diversity in Similipal was subjected to the raging forest fire which drew international attention. This is a serious threat to the biodiversity of Similipal.
Contact Details
Name of the Principal: Vice Chancellor, Maharaja Sri Ram Chandra Bhanja Deo University,
Takhatpur, Baripada, Odisha 757003
Name of the Institution: Maharaja Sri Ram Chandra Bhanja Deo University
City: Baripada
Pin Code: 757003
Accredited Status: B+
Validity Period: From 9th June 2017 to 8th June 2022
Work Phone: (M) 9437570288

Best Practice – 2

Promotion and Preservation of Tribal Language and Heritage: The Case of Santali

The aim of the practice:
Since tribal languages and cultures constitute an inherent part of Indian heritage in general and Odishan heritage in particular, the primary objective is to promote Santali language and literature and to document and preserve their cultural heritage in our Museum. Another objective is to create awareness among non-tribal students about the rich heritage of the Santals. Thirdly, this would help imparting education through mother tongue especially at school level. This is emphasized by New Education Policy. Preparation of a data base on Santali writers, translation of important Santali works into other Indian languages and vice versa are other aims.
The Context:
According to UNESCO, many languages are becoming extinct from the world. Besides, STs constitute 22.85% of Odisha’s population. Therefore preservation of tribal languages in Odisha is very relevant. Besides, Santali has the Ol Chiki script and is included under the VIIIth Schedule of our Constitution. Before the emergence of Ol Chiki script, the Santalis used to write in various languages such as Odia, Bengali and Hindi. The challenge is to publish them in Ol Chiki. The ethnohistory and stories of origins of the Santals are usually inferred from their traditional songs which are being steadily lost from the collective memory. Some other challenges include documentation of such songs, preparation of text books for school children in Ol Chiki script and inadequacy of publishing units of Ol Chiki, etc.
The Practice:

• Ours is the only University in Odisha which has a Department of Santali for teaching and research from post-graduation to Ph. D.
• Students and scholars of Anthropology and Tribal Studies Department undertake fieldwork to document the cultural heritage of the Santals and emphasise how elements of culture could be input for sustainable development and conservation of biodiversity
• Social Work Department emphasises the issues of rights and social justice for the tribal people including the Santals
• The Tribal Museum has the collection of material culture of folk and tribal socities
  including those of the Santals
• Specimens of plants used by the Santal tribal healers are there in the APJ Abdul Kalam Biodiversity Park
• The University library has collections on tribal literature and heritage including Santali
• Preparation of a data base on Santali language and literature
• Worship of God Bidu and Goddess Chandan by both tribal and non-tribal students as the deities who promote learning
• Translation of a school text book on science of Class VII from Odia to Ol Chiki
• This helps in learning language and literature in comparative perspective since we have other language departments, such as Odia, English and Hindi

Importance/Uniqueness of this Practice in Indian Higher Education:

• The practice is relevant to the UNESCO declaration on Intangible Cultural Heritage.
• It teaches tribal students, while being exposed to modern education, to be proud of their rich heritage and the non-tribal students to show respect to the splendours of tribal cultures.
• It enables both the tribal and non-tribal communities to highlight a basic point that both and tribal and non-tribal communities have to learn from one another to create a
  comprehensive and syncretistic knowledge system.
• Thus this practice helps dismantle a stereotypical view that it is the tribal people who have to learn from rest of population. On the contrary, this practice emphasises that the
  non-tribal population have also to learn from tribal heritage in terms of their ecologically
  balanced habitat and ways of life.

Constrains and limitations: Human resource and finance are the main constraints and limitations
Evidence of Success:
On the whole, the practice is a success. The Departments of Santali, Anthropology & Tribal Studies, Social Work are engaged in teaching, learning, documenting and undertaking research on various aspects of Santali language, literature and heritage. The tribal Museum has repository of material culture including those of Santal. The same is the case with the plant diversity of medicinal plants used by the Santal tribal healers. The library has a good collection relating to Santali literature and culture. Preparation of a data base on Santali literature has already been started. However, this is a continuous process. While a text book on general science for Class VII has already been translated from Odia by our teachers, translations of Santali literary works to other languages and vice versa are yet to begin.
Problems Encountered and Resources Required:
Inadequate human resource and financial resource is a problem. Other problems include inadequate space for tribal museum, maintenance of the APJ Abdul Kalam Park, getting access to various works by Santali scholars published in Hindi, Bengali and Odia languages. Preparation of a data base on Santali works is also a huge task. Limited number of publishers in Ol Chiki script is another problem.
Contact Details
Name of the Principal: Vice Chancellor, Maharaja Sri Ram Chandra Bhanja Deo University,
Takhatpur, Baripada, Odisha 757003
Name of the Institution: Maharaja Sri Ram Chandra Bhanja Deo University
City: Baripada
Pin Code: 757003
Accredited Status: B+
Validity Period: From 9th June 2017 to 8th June 2022
Work Phone: (M) 9437570288
Fax: 06792-240029/240024
Website: www.nou.nic.in

Best Practice – 1

TEACH MAYURBHANJ: A need based educational drive

Goal:
Being the largest district and with about 58% tribal population, the GER and literacy rate of Mayurbhanj district is low. Inadequate teachers and drop out are other important problems. Keeping these problems in view, an initiative was taken by the School of Education by organizing such a community service programme in different schools which are actually in need of well-equipped trained and competent teachers with the following goals:

• To partially fulfill the need of adequate competent teachers in different subjects
• To enhance pupil-teachers’ professional skill & professional ethics
• To empower teacher-training programme through multi-cultural experience
• To help students increase their self-esteem, communicative skill, professional skill etc.
• To help the system to reduce dropout and increase enrolment in school

The Context :
THE PROGRAMME FOCUSED PRIMARILY ON PARTIALLY FULFILLING THE NEED OF ADEQUATE TEACHERS AND PROVIDING BETTER EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES IN DIFFERENT SCHOOLS OF MAYURBHANJ DISTRICT. BESIDES, IT ALSO AIMED TO IMPROVE THE TEACHING SKILLS AND ABILITIES OF THE PROSPECTIVE PUPIL TEACHERS.
During Internship of Integrated B.Ed.-M.Ed. students in the session 2017-2018, it was observed that there was shortage of subject teachers in different government schools in Mayurbhanj district. The School of Education, after securing the willingness of student volunteers of Integrated B.Ed.-M.Ed., M.A. in Education and consent of University authorities, sought permission from the Government of Odisha in this regard.
After getting the necessary permission from the Government, Schools having shortage of teachers in different subjects were enlisted and student-volunteers were allotted as per the need of the school. An Orientation Programme was conducted to train them how they would meet the challenges in the respective schools allotted to them.
The Practice:
THE PROGRAMME WAS CONDUCTED FOR A MONTH FROM 1ST FEBRUARY TO 28TH FEBRUARY, 2019. IN THE FIRST PHASE, THE PROGRAMME WAS STARTED IN 69 SCHOOLS OF 6 BLOCKS NAMELY BARIPADA, KULIANA, SHYAMAKHUNTA, KHUNTA, GB NAGAR AND MORADA WITH 162 STUDENTS. Though it is a need based progamme, the subject teacher concerned took that class only where the teachers were not available to teach the subject. Further, each pupil teacher completed the courses in due time by taking minimum two classes per day.
The pupil-teachers were well trained in new pedagogical skills and were also competent to teach by using various ICT based teaching learning materials. They taught in a student-friendly way by providing them what they actually needed for better learning. AS MAYURBHANJ IS A TRIBAL DOMINATED DISTRICT, THE SCHOOLS HAVE MANY TRIBAL STUDENTS AND OTHER LOCAL STUDENTS WHOSE LANGUAGE IS DIFFERENT FROM THAT OF OTHERS. In that case, our pupil teachers who knew the Santali tribal language provided teaching in that language also. For example, AT RAIBHOL SCHOOL, REMEDIAL TEACHING WAS IMPARTED THROUGH SANTALI LANGUAGE by the pupil-teachers as per the needs of the School and availability of pupil teachers.
The “Teach Mayurbhanj” programme enhanced the academic, social and cognitive aspects among Elementary and Secondary Schools students of the districts. It also had positive impact on the vocational development of the pupil-teachers who got an authentic platform to practise their professional skills in facing real challenges. This programme also aimed at catering to the needs of trained teachers in concerned subjects in those schools. The programme was monitored by faculty members of School of Education.
Our pupil-teachers taught students of both Elementary and Secondary Schools and covered subjects like Odia, English, Sanskrit, General Science (including Physics, Chemistry, Biology), Social Studies (including History, Geography) and IT fundamentals.
Pupil-teachers in Teachers’ Training Institutes generally undertake their curricular internship in a particular type of school situated mostly in urban areas and hence, they donot get exposure to the ground realities of rural schools. From this point of view, THE TEACH MAYURBHANJ PROGRAMME WAS UNIQUE, SINCE IT PROVIDED A COMMON PLATFORM TO WOULD BE TEACHERS IN GIVING EXPOSURE TO THE CHALLENGES OF RURAL SCHOOLS WITH A SUBSTANTIAL PROPORTION OF TRIBAL STUDENTS AND HELPED THEM CONCRETISE THEIR IDEAS, SKILLS, AND METHODS OF IMPARTING EDUCATION IN INNOVATIVE WAYS.
Regarding LIMITATIONS, we faced difficulty to fulfill the needs of each school due to shortage of subject specific teachers in Mayurbhanj district.
Evidence of Success:
After completion of the programme, the following were the outcomes:

• The students of specified mentioned schools were motivated to learn and take interest to come to school regularly. So strength of class was good.
• Before commencement of final examinations all courses were completed by the volunteer pupil teachers. It was a great help and support to school administrators, parents, teachers and students at a crucial period.
• Students of the mentioned schools have done good result in final Board Examination and secured good marks. So all stakeholders appreciated the programme and requested to continue the same programme in every year for community development and students welfare purposes.
• All volunteer pupil teachers got an authentic platform to concertize their innovative ideas, knowledge, skills, teaching strategies with the students of various types of specified schools as well as gained better experience of how to teacher with few or no material resources (TLM/ICT)in rural tribal schools.
• Students got self satisfaction and well trained during this programme. Now most of the pupil teachers employed in OAVS, Kendriya Vidyalaya and other better schools due to good teaching skill
• Problems Encountered and Resources Required Please identify the problems encountered and resources required to implement the practice in about 150 words.
• At initial stage of this programme the Convenor, Programme Coordinator and Pupil teachers faced some problems which were as under:
• Faced difficulty in getting permission from local authorities, administrators of the district concerned and Department of School & Mass Education, Government of Odisha as it was a new concept and not known to all.
• The Convenor, Programme Coordinator and Pupil Teachers faced problems of food and transportation to areas where public transport was not available.
• Though it was a voluntary work and community service programme and without budgetary provision, they faced financial problems to meet transportation expenses.
• Pupil teachers felt difficulty in creating resourceful environment due to lack of teaching learning materials in the schools.
• Pupil teachers also faced difficulty during the travel due to antisocial/drunkard and drug addicted people ‘s behavior.

Contact Details:
Name of the Principal: Vice Chancellor, Maharaja Sri Ram Chandra Bhanja Deo University,
Takhatpur, Baripada, Odisha 757003
Name of the Institution: Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo University
City: Baripada
Pin Code: 757003
Accredited Status: B+
Validity Period: From 9th June 2017 to 8th June 2022
Work Phone: (M) 9437570288

Best Practice – 2

Blending Community Knowledge and Generic Skill with Modern Science: Experiencing
Similipal Plant Biodiversity (medicinal plants) in the Campus

Goal:
Being the abode of many tribal communities, the region of North Odisha has a rich tradition of community knowledge transmitted orally to succeeding generations. Much of it is being lost steadily from the collective memory. Because of the importance of such knowledge system, the UNESCO Declaration on Intangible Cultural Heritage has emphasized on its documentation, preservation and, in case of the extinct ones, even revitalization. Keeping this in view, the University decided to promote, preserve and publicize Similipal biodiversity among scholars, tribal, rural and common citizens through the A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Biodiversity Park in the campus.
The Context
In recent years many medicinal plant species are considered to be at risk of extinction on account of two sets of human activities: (a) habitat alteration or destruction derived from change in the use of land, and (b) extraction of wild plants for trade. Hence, it is high time to save the vanishing medicinal plants / species well before the temperature regime become worse, and to grow in a controlled climate with the purpose of production of planting materials needed for restoration. Our university is located in a peripheral zone of Similipal and is the most ideal place for developing such an ex-situ conservation garden that too in almost in-situ condition.
The Practice:
In their traditional healthcare, the tribal people use different parts of various plants for medicinal purposes. There is a steady decline in the number and practice of tribal healers in the locality. Therefore documentation and preservation of such plants and their use as known from communities is a necessary first step in this regard. An example of the blending of community knowledge of medicinal plants with modern science has been undertaken by our scholars of botany and biodiversity conservation by ethnobotanical research and plants used by tribal healers.
The A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Biodiversity Park has been set up with 52 species of medicinal plants with a spread of 2.7 acres of land in the campus. The Park is having infrastructural facilities to grow and rear the plants. It has one shed net house and one moist house to grow the me dicinal / herbal plants with all requisite facilities. The ex-situ conservation of the medicinal plant genetic resources not only caters to the needs of students, faculties and researchers but also provides the plant and plant parts to the local people for preparation of medicines. Some of the important medicinal plants are Plumbago zeylanica, Tinospora cordifolia, Cissampelos pareira, Adrographis paniculata, Gloriosa superba, Rauvolfia serpentina, Saraca asoca, Phyllanthus emblica, Calotropis procera, Abrus precatorius, Withania somnifera, Bacopa monnieri, Hemidesmus indicus, Desmodium gangeticum, Acorus calamus, Aloe vera, Soymida febrifuga, Oroxylum indicum, Paderia foetida, Phyllanthus niruri, Curculigo orchioides, Argyria nervosa, Cycas sphaerica, Santalum album, Pterocarpus santalinus, Libidibia coriaria, Cissus quadrangularis, Podocarpus gracilior, Asparagus racemosus, Eclipta prostrata etc. Thus the Park enables a visitor/student or scholar to experience the diversity of medicinal plants of the Similipal Bio-Sphere Reserve.
Uniqueness of the practice in the Indian Higher Education:
The practice has some uniqueness in the form of appreciating the traditional knowledge of communities with regard to the use of plants for medicinal purposes which are given value addition by use of scientific methods of plant taxonomy and their ex-situ conservation. Hence, this is an example of convergence of traditional knowledge system of communities and modern scientific practices and research.
Constraints and limitations:
Experiencing the plant diversity of Similipal Biosphere Reserve in the campus is limited to medicinal plants only. Because of limited number of plants, it cannot meet the demand of all tribal healers of the region.
Evidence of Success

Problems Encountered and Resources Required
Care and maintenance of the Park is of paramount importance which is not very easy. Being located in the campus, land available is limited and the number of plant species conserved is also limited. More land with more number of plants and more human resource are required.