The Department of Extension Education came into existence in 1956 with the establishment of Extension Wing in the then Government Agricultural College, Ludhiana. Initially, extension education was introduced as an optional subject for the final year students of B.Sc. Agri. (Hons.). From this modest beginning, the department expanded its curriculum and other programmes with the establishment of Punjab Agricultural University in October 1962. Currently, Extension Education is being taught as a compulsory subject in the College of Agriculture. Taking into consideration its importance and vital role in agricultural development programmes, academic instructions in the subject of extension education were introduced at M.Sc. and Ph.D. level with effect from 1961 and 1965 respectively. The department offers UG courses in Extension Education to the students of B.Sc. Agri. (Hons.) of College of Agriculture, PG courses to M.Sc. and Ph.D. students of the Department of Extension Education of College of Agriculture and other colleges as minor subject. Besides, the department is also running a teacher education programme (B.Ed.) which was started in the year 1977-78, but has been discontinued presently.
The agricultural extension training programmes were introduced from the year 1963. Dr B.S. Samundhri was the first Head of the department and worked till March 1964. He was succeeded by Dr T S Sohal, Dr A S Sandhu, Dr Raghbir Singh, Dr S S Pawar, Dr AN Shukla, Dr A S Dhaliwal, Dr B S Hansra, Dr S S Gill, Dr G S Momi, Dr D S Dhillon, Dr (Mrs) Ranbir Randhawa, Dr (Mrs) Ravinder Kaur Dhaliwal, Dr (Mrs) R K Kalra and Dr Jaswinder Singh Bhalla. Presently, Dr Kuldeep Singh is serving as the head of department.
Mandates of the Department
- To teach and guide students of B.Sc.Agri. (Hons.), M.Sc. and Ph.D. programmes.
- To disseminate agricultural technologies through local leaders using different extension teaching methods and provide feedback to scientists.
- To organize farmers, farm women and youth into groups and producer organizations.
All the three mandatory functions of the university i.e. Teaching, Research and Extension are being carried out by the department. |
