The Department of Education organized Workshop for Parents at the Community Hall, Tibetan Settlement Office, Dharamsala from March 14 – 16, 2013.

Ms. Donkar Wangmo, Chief Counselor with the Department of Education, gave the welcome speech and said that the purpose of the Workshop is to help parents strengthen their parenting skills so that nurturing or raising a child can become a pleasant experience. She stated that raising children is a complicated and a challenging task and in the process parents feel frustrated and hopeless when they run short of ways to deal with the problems posed by their children. She further added that workshop of this kind can really help parents understand their children better and also learn new ways of dealing with them when they are faced with some developmental issues concerning their child. “In my day to day contact with parents as a Counselor, I have had parents tell me that they are ready to learn anything to boost their relationships with their children.  This amazing enthusiasm to improve their parenting skills was one of the motivations in planning such workshop for parents”, Mrs. Wangmo stated.

The Workshop was inaugurated by Chief Guest, Mr. Sonam Dorjee, the Settlement Officer, TWO, Dharamsala. He thanked the Department of Education for initiating a workshop of this kind for the parents and was confident that it would prove very beneficial to the participating parents.

3 Days Workshop organized by the Department of Education focussed on topics such as Alternate to Corporal Punishment, Communication Skills, Conflict Resolution Skills, Active Listening Skills & Stages of Child Development etc. The methods employed in the course of the workshop were role – play, experience sharing, group work, lecture, interactive session, group presentation, etc. Mr. Karma Lekshey (Director) & Mrs. Sonam Dechen Dhepon (Associate Director) from Tibetan Center for Conflict Resolution conducted the workshop.

Mr. Ngodup Tsering, Secretary from Department of Education was the Chief Guest at the Closing Ceremony.  Mrs. Donkar Wangmo (Chief Counselor) presented a brief report of the workshop. Mr. Ngodup Tsering urged the parents to practice what each of them had learned from the workshop. He also shared some of the challenges faced by the schools and one of which was children with surplus pocket money and advised the parents to manage pocket money appropriately. The workshop concluded successfully on March 16, 2013. A total of about 27 parents/teachers residing in and around Mcleod Ganj participated in the workshop.

The participants found the workshop very useful. Mr. Tsetan Guru said, “It was more than what I had expected.” Another participant, Mrs. Palkyi said that she found the resource persons very friendly and their language of communication was very simple and easy to follow.

Ms. Tenzin Peldon, Inclusive Education Officer thanked the Settlement Officer, Resource Persons, President & Members of Parents Association, Mcleod Ganj for their co-operation.

This Workshop was funded by SOIR-IM, Sweden.