Immersive Learning
A program to explore different kinds of learning in the Himalayas, in addition to academic online classes
1st to 14th August, 2021
The last year has been a turbulent one for many of us, as our lives have been painfully disrupted, or taken a whole new direction because of a raging pandemic. In the last few months, especially, India has suffered the tragic consequences – a lot of which are human-made – of the second wave of COVID, as the apathetic governance in the country has added intensely to the human miseries. Due to public health responses like lockdowns, curfews, and social distancing, we have been left with few options to balance different aspects of our emotional, physical, and mental lives. It will take a lot of time to understand the details of this lack of balance in our individual lives. While some of us have longed to meet other people, and to fulfil our desire to socialize, others have had a painful time navigating the lack of personal spaces in the closed environments of places we have had to reside in due to the lockdowns. These lack of ‘open’ spaces, which have restricted our mobility severely, have also had a detrimental effect on mental well-being of many of us.
In order to address to these concerns, and to bring possibilities of newness into our lives as we try to live with some sense of ‘normalcy,’ Sambhaavnaa Institute is launching a 14-day intensive workshop, which is specifically designed for students. The workshop is of a different nature than what Sambhaavnaa Institute is used to. Its objective is to interweave the academic life of students – who are at present undertaking online classes – with different modes of learning that include socialization, political sensitization, and other geographical pleasures that the Institute can offer because of its physical location in the foothills of Dhauladhar ranges.
The idea of the workshop can be sketched in the following ways. Between 9 am and 5 pm, every day, the participants can attend to their academic online classes and/or study for their examinations on their own. They can then have sometime for relaxation to enjoy the beautiful evenings here at the campus. Then, we will assemble and collectively begin our activities with the resource persons of Sambhaavnaa team. Most of these considerations are flexible. Once we meet in person, all of us would collaboratively decide the nature of time allocated for different activities. In these sessions, you would be having opportunities to share your personal stories and lived experiences, particularly of the pandemic period. We will also have discussions with activists and scholars on topics related to gender, sexuality, development, caste, education, and environment, or other topics which move you.
The workshop will use an interactive and didactic approach to learning and will have a collaborative curriculum – themes, concepts and case studies. Through the mediums of interactive discussions and conversations, field trips, theatre, film/documentary screenings, nature walks (including working on farms), treks, lectures (mostly online), songs of resistance, and sharing of lived experiences by activists and scholars, we shall engage with the abovementioned themes.
Who is the workshop for?
This workshop is designed for those motivated students, above 18 years, who are undertaking their online classes in their respective universities, and at the same time, have room – in terms of time and mental space – in their daily routines for different kinds of learning, besides what their academic life is offering at this moment.
Dates and Venue: 1-14 August, 2021, Sambhaavnaa Institute, VPO – Kandbari, Tehsil – Palampur, District – Kangra, PIN 176061, Himachal Pradesh.
Contribution towards Programs Costs:
We hope that each participant would contribute an amount of Rs. 12000/- towards the workshop expenses, inclusive of all on-site workshop costs: boarding, lodging, and all the materials used in the workshop. Need-based partial waivers are available, especially for students from marginalized communities. We have a very limited number of partial waivers, so, please apply for a waiver only if you really need it. Please do remember that there may be others who need it more than you.
How to reach Sambhaavnaa’s campus: Please visit: Getting here.
Language: Bilingual – Hindi and English
To know more, contact: WhatsApp or call Shashank at 889 422 7954 (between 10 am to 5 pm, Mon-Sat), and e-mail: programs@sambhaavnaa.org.
To apply, please fill the form below: