Dr. Jagdish Sharma - Chairman, Hindu Council
Jagdish Sharma was born in India. He was educated in Delhi where he obtained a B.A. and two M.A.s and taught in schools and colleges. He came to England in 1964 and while teaching in inner city secondary schools obtained P.G.C.E., an Academic Diploma in Education, M.Phil. and Ph.D. from University of London Institute of Education.
As an academic, Jagdish spent rest of his working life in teaching, researching and writing on education. He worked in Iran where besides teaching at universities in Tabriz and Tehran he worked as a consultant on educational planning and was responsible for setting up universities for the Government of Iran. He also wrote a weekly column for Iran's leading Daily, Kayhan International, for three years.
He returned to India to set up a University Faculty of Education in his home state Haryana and was responsible for bringing about education reform in the state through better teacher education. Dr. Sharma has been an occasional lecturer at universities and colleges in London and University School of Pittsburg, USA. At Schillers University London Dr. Sharma taught Public Administration and policy studies. Towards the end of his career in education, Jagdish was responsible for coordinating initiatives for raising of standards in education for ethnic minority children in an inner city borough of London.
Following the difficulties experienced in getting the best out of the NHS for his wife's Cancer treatment Jagdish became a campaigner for equal access to health services. He joined his local Community Health Council and Later became Chairman of the Greater London Association of Community Health Councils (GLACHC). In 1998 he was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Mayday Hospital, NHS Trust where he worked for 8 years. He took special interest in making services more equitably accessible especially for the black and ethnic minorities and more deprived sections of community.
Dr. Sharma is also known for setting up, Chairing or leading initiatives such as Asian Educationists of Croydon, Hindu College London, Arya Samaj Croydon. He was the first elected General Secretary of Hindu Council UK for four years (1995-99) and has now been its Chairman since 2003. He is also responsible for Human Rights affairs of HCUK.
Over the past two years Jagdish has been a member of Religion and Belief Consultative Group which is feeding into the setting up the Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR). He has also been actively involved in Inter Faith Network, both at local and national level. His other current interests include diversity issues, community integration and cohesion leading to a more just society.
Speakers
