The Department of Psychology at Rajiv Gandhi University in Arunachal Pradesh, organized a two-day national e-conference on “adaptability in crisis: psychology, education and society.”
Addressing the conference Tana Showren, dean, Faculty of Social Science RGU, said that humans should be able to learn to give new responses to new situations with a great degree of flexibility and high proficiency of adaptability as a guide to the crisis situation.
He highlighted the drawbacks of digital divide between rural and urban areas and talked about the psychological effects of the new normal which is not limited to the fear of contracting COVID-19 but fear of the future that students face because of the suspended classes or online classes.
Pro-VC Amitava Mitra spoke on how COVID-19 has significant effect on not just physical health but also on the country’s economy, health, educational system, psychological and social effects on the population. He expressed his warm wishes for the fruitful deliberation of the program and encouraged the social scientist, experts, and decision makers to come up with innovative measures or solutions on adapting to the crisis.
Saket Kushwaha, VC RGU, sending his warm regards through a message said that although there is panic, fear and uncertainty, one should have a proactive and positive attitude to face adversity. The RGU VC said that the COVID crisis has also taught lessons to humans which would have otherwise never been possible prior to the COVID-19 and that one should be open to change as it will affect one’s adaptive ability.
Keynote speaker Meena Hariharan, professor and founder director, The Centre for Health Psychology, University of Hyderabad discussed on the topic “Coping with COVID-19: The Resilience of Bharat” in which she highlighted the ripples created by the crisis and the coping of it on individual level.
There were four plenary sessions, the first session was delivered by Nutankumar Thinguhjam, head, Department of Psychology, Tripura University. Second session was delivered by Mohammad Ghazi Shahnawaz Department of Psychology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Third and fourth sessions were addressed by Sherwin May Sungoh, Department of Education, North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) and Kottu Shekhar, regional director, RGNIYD, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, GoI respectively.
On the second day of the conference there were nine technical sessions with a total of 85 delegates for their paper presentation. The presentations were done through Google meet.
Earlier, welcome address was delivered by Dharmeshawri Lourembam, convener of the national conference and HoD (in-charge) Psychology while the vote of thanks was delivered by Kakali Goswami, co-convenor of the programme.
