Animal welfare education is a multidisciplinary subject which is evolving rapidly with the core components of welfare science, ethics, laws and standards. In general, we are concerned about the welfare of all animals that are managed in some way by humans, and where we have particular responsibilities for their care. In the past, greatest concern about animal welfare has been related to livestock production in agriculture, and thus ‘farm animal welfare’ has received the most attention. Over time, welfare issues pertaining to working, performing, companion, zoo and lab animals have also received attention. Keeping all this in view, the PGDAW programme has covered welfare science, ethics, laws and standards of all managed animals like cattle and buffaloes; sheep and goat; pigs; poultry; working, performing, pet, zoo and lab animals.
Programme Objectives
- To impart science based animal welfare education through open and distance learning.
- To build capacities of stakeholders in taking socially responsible decisions concerning animal welfare.
Who Can Take Admission?
- Faculty, researchers, technical staff and PG students in universities, research organizations and veterinary colleges.
- Veterinarians in state / central government departments and Remount and Veterinary Corps.
- Members of state /district animal welfare boards / institutional animal ethics committees
- Civil servants, IFS officers and officials working in zoos, wild life institutes, animal house facilities, zoology departments etc.
- Employees / volunteers working in animal welfare organizations / NGOs/ Gaushalas
- Animal lovers and pet owners.
- Fresh graduates seeking career as animal welfare professionals.
Instructional Design and Delivery Mechanism
The self instructional format has been used for developing Self Learning Material (SLM) in print and multi-media. Print is the predominant mode of instruction, supplemented with audio and video programmes; face to face counselling sessions; interactive radio counselling (IRC) (Gyan Vani); educational TV broadcasts (Gyan Darshan) and web based counselling (Gyan Dhara).
Student Support Service System
Students support services in the form of face to face counseling are provided by RCs and LSCs as per University norms. IRC (Gyan Vani); educational TV broadcasts (Gyan Darshan) and web based counselling (Gyan Dhara) will be provided by School faculty from HQs.
Assignments
Assignments are an integral and compulsory component of the instructional system. There is one assignment for each course. Students will have to work on these assignments and submit the assignment responses to the Coordinator/Programme In-charge of the Study Centre in accordance with the given assignments’ submission schedule. Students can download the assignments from IGNOU website (www.ignou.ac.in) at student’s zone.
