Be the Guide for the Students and Community

Title of the Practice

Be the Guide for the Students and Community

Objective of the Practice

• To provide maximum support to the students of tribal community
• To provide wholistic nurture for the students
• To address their problems and find solution through education
• To provide maximum health care to the tribal people
• To provide awareness on health and related issues
• To nurture healthy lifestyle practices
• To provide aid to the wholistic development of the community
• To provide special care to the weaker sections in community ie women and children

The Context

Our institution, MES Kalladi College has a lot of tribal students studying in the college every year. Most of them came from the nearby tribal area, Attapady. As they came from the tribal area, they have many socio, economic, cultural issues. They find it very difficult to cope up with the atmosphere of the system. In this context, the college takes keen interest in supporting them to improve their social and cultural tastes. By tutorial and mentoring system, the teachers identify their needs in the first year itself. By giving them special tutorial and mentoring classes, the needs were addressed. By finding their aptitude in different areas, the college promote them to join in various clubs and activities. The college decided not to limit the support given to the tribal students within campus. The college extended its service to the tribal community by establishing a health centre in Attapady. It is located at Kakkupadi. The centre was established on 14th November 2016.By establishing this health centre, the college intends to give care and support to both the tribal students and their community.

The Practice

The practice was done at two level.Firstly , inside the campus , the issues of students of the tribal community are identified.There are measures like tutorial system where the tutor can interact with the student regularly.As a result , the teacher can have a good relationship with the student and can identify the problems they faced. Most of the tribal students are not familiar with the common atmosphere of the campus and they are timid to involve in the activities even though they are smart. The cultural inclusive nature of their system also acts as a barrier for them to use the opportunity before them. By identifying their core issues , the tutor easily can give support and make them involve in the campus as other students. Mentoring also gives them a chance to open up their problems and basically it involves the career based issues. So it gives a platform for the mentor to guide them properly in the academic activities. The mentors takes special care to handle these students. Various club and cell activities also involves in the wholistic career and personality development of tribal students.

While dealing with the students from tribal community, it is noted that the main reason for their issues lies in the condition of their community.  The peculiarity of their culture and lack of exposure to the mainstream society act as a hindrance in their path of success. So, it is necessary to address the issues of the community along with the support given to the students. With that intention, the medical centre started on 14th November 2016. Initially, the treatment for the tribal people were free of cost. Then, they themselves demanded to make it for a small fee. Now the centre is charging Rs.20 as doctor’s fee.

The main objective of this mission is to provide holistic development to the society by addressing specific issues which act as a hindrance in the path of development. By adopting the village, the college intends to provide the village with the service of the students to the society and in turn it gives the students a better understanding of the condition around them. By incorporating the tribal section in our activities, the college extends its activities beyond the campus.

It firstly looks into the issues of poverty eradication. The community faces poverty even though they are having government support to eliminate it. Proper guidance and planning will give them an opportunity to make themselves equipped to face the issue and thereby eradicate poverty.

The second objective of this mission is to empower the female community in the village. They are facing multi-layered issues like health problems, violence, suppression etc. Health issues that are prevalent among the females in the tribal community include malnutrition, drug addiction and maternal mortality. These issues are addressed with the aid of the MES health centre in Attapady. Through proper awareness, medication, and nutrition plans, problems can be addressed and rectified.

The next issue addressed in this practice is the provision for basic educational improvement in the community. This is done with the help of MES private institute and their facility. Basic literacy facilitation is the main aim of this program. It also intends to enhance knowledge about the importance of education in society among the young generation and thereby help them find a proper facility for basic education.

The last aim of this practice is to get a wholistic improvement in the socio, cultural and educational milieu of tribal communities in the village. It promotes their participation to make them come to the forefront of society.

Evidence of Success

The evidence of success lies in the achievement of the students from tribal community.They gained success both in academics and other activities.They started to participate in various activities of the college. Many of them succeeded in academics by gaining good scores in final examinations.Some of them even enrolled in Kerala PSC examination and got placed in State Government Service. Our institution conducted many programs in the tribal area of Attapady. This gives a positive outlook on the present program. The programs related to health, poverty eradication and women empowerment conducted in connection with this practice gave them an awareness of the issues related to these matters. The reason for poverty and the remedy to be taken to eliminate it is addressed in the program. empowerment through the addressal of various problems they faced in the society is the goal achieved through the practice. Basic literacy programs and educational improvement programs were successful in their aim to lift the awareness of the importance of education in societal development.

Problems Encountered

The drop out rate of the students from the tribal community is higher and this came as a hindrance in the special care programs given to these students. The inhibition of the students to participate in the activities of the college also came as an obstacle in promoting them. The main hindrance faced by the practice is the specialty and uniqueness of the area. Even though it is the peculiarity of the culture and practice which makes the area different from other locality nearby college, it also poses an obstacle in advocating such programs. Their cultural exclusiveness and reluctance to embrace external practices into the community is a threat to the practice. The lack of interest to imbibe new matters into society is another problem that caused a threat.