CHANDIGARH: As part of its ongoing initiative, the Chandigarh Administration has undertaken a campaign to promote gender education in college campuses. In a first of its kind endeavour, a gender sensitization workshop will be held for college lecturers from July 23 to July 27.

An official spokesman said on Sunday that the aim of the workshop is to engage with the academic community and enlist their partnership in carrying forward the initiative to their classrooms, thus tackling gender concerns of youth and thereby creating self-sustaining synergies, a spokesperson of the U.T Administration said.

Gender norms that assign a greater value to the male child and negative attributes to the girl child need to be reinterpreted and redefined during the workshop.

A team from the well-known NGO, Jagori, will conduct this workshop in the Government College, Sector-46, Chandigarh. Founder members of Jagori – Kamla Bhasin, Abha Bhaiya, Jaya Shrivastava and Runu Chakraborty will be the resource persons for the five-day workshop.
They are amongst the pioneers of the feminist movement in India. Their contribution towards generating consciousness on women's issues in India and abroad have been widely acclaimed.

Raji P. Shrivastava, Director Higher Education, who conceptualized this project alongwith a Core Group that comprised college lecturers from different disciplines, will inaugurate the workshop on July 23.

Forty-eight teachers representing various colleges of the city will participate in the deliberations for the next five days. Prominent professionals from the media, the medical fraternity and academics will also participate in the intensive brainstorming sessions.