The agriculture education system in India was framed based on the American land-grant model during post-independence, but this is governed centrally by Indian Council of Agricultural Research in all the states unlike USA. The Rural Agricultural Work Experience(RAWE), as introduced in the Undergraduate curriculum through the recommendation of the “Randhawa Committee” during the year 1995-96, is a mandatory experiential learning program for the students pursuing their undergraduate degree in agricultural sciences at an Indian agricultural university. It helps the students primarily to understand the rural situations, status of agricultural technologies adopted by farmers, prioritize the farmer’s problems and to develop skills and attitude of working with farm families for overall development in rural area. RAWE program was introduced in all the Universities' curriculum as an essential pre-requisite for the award of the “Bachelor of Science in Agriculture” degree to ensure adequate practical training. The timings for RAWE can be flexible for specific regions to coincide with the main cropping season. This program is undertaken by the students in their final year for a total duration of 21 weeks with a weightage of 20 practical credit hours in two parts- RAWE and Agro-industrial attachment(AIA). It consists of general orientation and on campus training by different faculties followed by village/unit attachment in University/College/regional farm science center or a Research station through Crop production and crop improvement interventions, Crop protection interventions, Social and allied science interventions, Extension and Transfer of Technologies, Plant clinic/Information centre/Crop museum etc. The students get attached with the agro-industries to get an experience of the industrial environment and working. At the end of RAWE/AIA, the students are given one week for project report preparation, presentation and evaluation. The students are also required to record their observations in field and agro-industries on daily basis and prepare their project reports accordingly.
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