The life-spans and life expectancy at birth have been continuously increasing over the last decades, creating unforeseen and important changes in the social and economic fabric of society as well as personal challenges for those with the blessings of a ‘long life’.
But during the last few years, in the US there has been a slight drop in this trend of increasing longevity. It can be dismissed as insignificant or interpreted to suggest that leading a long life is not enough. Humans want to lead a meaningful life as well.
Japan on the other hand has a large number of happy persons who have found their Ikigai and are living to be 100 and beyond ( many in Okinawa). There are many other ‘blue zones’ around the world where there is high longevity with healthy eating, active lifestyles and community involvement.
In May 2018 an unusual movie was released “102 not out”. It starred Amitabh Bachchan as a 102 year old father of a 75 year old son ( Rishi Kapoor) whom he planned to send to an old age home.
It is an amusing story about old age and some of its challenges.
The psychologist Karl Jung was perhaps the first one to suggest that one cannot lead the second half of life on the principles applicable to its first half and lamented the lack of a ‘ School for the second half of life’.
This program attempts to fill that need in part, and shares the tasks that Jung recommended for the 2nd half of life.
The flow of the weekend program:
Day 1: (Saturday): Understanding the Ageing phenomenon
1.1: Drivers of increasing longevity
1.2: What Science says about ageing?
1.3: Lifestyle to promote healthy ageing
1.4: Positive Ageing
1.5: About death and dying
Day 2: (Sunday) : Your action plan : making old age a blessing not a curse
2.1: Becoming a lifelong learner gives you a longer life
2.2: Finding meaning and purpose in your life ( your Ikigai)
2.3: The 7 tasks for the 2nd half of life ( Karl Jung)
2.4: Interviews with 100 year olds
2.5: Wrapping Up: Developing your Lifestyle plan
Enrolment and fee payment:
Fresh cohorts for the above weekend course are formed on the second Saturday of every month. The next batch will run on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th February 2022.
As the courses are being delivered through WhatsApp the enrolment process is simply that of sending a WhatsApp message to Prof MM Pant at +919810073724.
The fee for the above course is Rs 1000/- and can be easily remitted through PayTM to MM Pant ( mobile number : +919810073724).
For those who would pay into a Bank account, the relevant information is :
Prof. M.M.Pant has a Ph.D in Computational Physics, along with a Professional Law Degree, and has been a practitioner in the fields of Law, IT enabled education and IT implementation.
Drawing upon his experience in world class international institutions and having taught in various modes of Face-to-Face, Distance Learning and Technology Enhanced Training, Prof. Pant is now exploring the nature of institutions which will be successors to the IITs, which represented the 1960s, IIMs, which represented the 1970 and Open Universities which were the rage of 1980s & 90s.
He believes that the convergence between various media and technologies would fundamentally alter the way learning would be created, packaged, and delivered to learners. His current activities are all directed toward actual implementation of these new age educational initiatives that transform education in the post Internet post WTO era..
Prof. Pant, has been a Former Pro-Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and has been on the faculty of IIT – Kanpur (the premier Engineering institution in India), MLNR Engineering College and Faculty & Visiting Professor - University of Western Ontario-Canada.
He has been visiting scientist to research centers in Italy, England, Germany & Sweden and has delivered international lectures with about 80 papers published.
During his association of almost 15 years with the IGNOU, Prof. Pant has served as the Director Computing and has been the Member of All Bodies (i.e. School boards, Academic council, Planning board, Finance committee and the Board of management).
With his interest in Law, backed with practice of Law in a High Court, and his basic training in Science and IT, Prof. Pant has been particularly interested in the Cyber Law, Patent & trade mark issues, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues etc. and has been involved with many activities, conferences on “Law & IT”
Prof. Pant is presently;
• Advisor to Media Lab Asia - Chairman of working group on ICT for Education, chairman of PRSG handling projects on ICT for education.
• Lead Consultant for an ADB funded project for ICT in Basic Education in Uzbekistan
• Member of the drafting Group for India’s National Policy on ICT in education
• Chairman of the group creating books for class 11 and 12 students on ‘Computers and Communication Technology’ appointed by the NCERT
• Preparing a ‘Theme Paper” for the NCTE in the area of ICT and Teacher Training
• Advisor and mentor to several leading Indian and Multi-national Companies in the area of education.
Prof. Pant has in the recent past been ;
• Member – Board of Management – I I T, Delhi for 6 years (two consecutive terms)
• One-man committee to create the Project Report & Legislation for Delhi IT-enabled Open University
• Advisor to the Delhi Government on Asian Network of Major Cities Project (ANMC-21) distance learning project in association with Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
• Chairman Board of Studies, All India Management Association
With his mission to create and implement new business opportunities in the area of e-learning & learning facilitation, Prof. Pant has promoted Planet EDU Pvt. Ltd., as its Founder & Chairman, along with a team of highly experienced and skilled professionals from Education & Training, Operations, IT and Finance.
