First Indian Inducted into Hall of Fame on Adult Education

Dr Rajesh Tandon, President, PRIA (Society for Participatory Research in Asia is the first Indian to be inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education (IACE) Hall of Fame at the University of Oklahoma’s Center for Continuing Education, Oklahoma, USA.

The Hall of Fame has been created to award leaders in the fields of continuing education and adult learning. Recipients of this honour are exemplary lifelong learners themselves and have left lasting impressions on students, institutions and organizations. Previous inductees to the Hall of Fame include Paulo Freire, the Brazilian philosopher and social activist, and late Julius K. Nyerere, founding president of Tanzania.

It is a well deserved honour for Dr Tandon who has contributed significantly to the cause of adult education at the grassroots, national and international levels”, said Manoj Rai, Director, PRIA.

In his work on promoting adult education, Dr Tandon has developed participatory training methodology for the National Adult Education Programme and Total Literacy Campaign (TLC), Government of India; contributed to the UN Right to Learn Declaration of 1982; and is Chairperson of the Global Alliance for Community Engaged Research (GACER) network. He has established academic linkages to map the teaching of participatory research across 65 universities and research institutions in India. He co-founded PRIA in 1982 as a vehicle to strengthen learning opportunities at the grassroots and the articulation of knowledge for wider social influence. He has also developed participatory training, monitoring and evaluation methodologies to enhance adult learning and community knowledge.

“I feel honoured to be included in this Hall of Fame; as India moves ahead on its economic trajectory, effective policies and programmes of lifelong learning will be crucial for human resource development required by the growing economy,” said Dr Tandon upon receiving this honour.

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony (the inductee will be awarded a medallion and plaque that will be displayed in the Hall of Fame at the University of Oklahoma) will be held at the Sixth International Congress on Continuing and Distance Education in Guadalajara, Mexico and will be held at 8:00 p.m. on October 27, 2010 at the Autonomous University of Guadalajara.

To learn more about the Hall of Fame and its members, visit

www.halloffame.outreach.ou.edu.

Dr Tandon and other recipients at the Hall of Fame award ceremony held on 7 April 2011