BEST PRACTICE – 1

Title: KLESACC’s SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY INITIATIVE

“Knowing is not enough, you must apply; Willing is not enough, you must do”.

Goal:

The objective of this best practice is to contribute to transformation of society through conduct of awareness campaigns and focused action

  • Create a culture that infuses extension as a core ingredient of true education through ISR.
  • Foster Inter – connectedness, kinship and eco – justice through the activities of- Eco Club, YRCU and ISR
  • Mould socially conscious and responsible individuals through NSS and YRCU.

The Context:

K.L.E.S Arts and Commerce College was envisioned as an educational institution that would be an inspiration and guiding force to mould, enlighten and empower generations of youths. The College has always kept in mind its vision “Nurture the Merit, Nourish the Environment and help the Mankind to flourish”. This practice evolved quite naturally from this vision by engaging students in activities that would enable them to reach out to people in rural areas and extend a helping hand to the needy. The students are given hands on experience in imparting life skills.

 

The Practice:

Institutional Social Responsibility (ISR) involves students in extension activities providing them hands on experiences in uplifting the community and bringing about social change. The college has adopted areas in the outskirts of Gadag and conducts activities to create public awareness about environment, health and nutrition, communication and computer skills, self- employment schemes, psychological issues of teenagers, etc., and give trainings appropriate to the area of specialization of each department.

Students and staff are actively and enthusiastically involved in fostering a link between the community and the College and addressing the needs of the community by coordinating with the PDO and local residents’ units of the respective areas. The target groups of the programmes include rural/economically underprivileged women, men and students of various schools.

The Departments and various clubs, particularly the Eco Club, are actively committed to the protection of the environment. The Eco club of the college organizes awareness classes on the ill-effects of plastic and need to reduce the use of plastic bags in schools, colleges, rural communities and the villages of Gadag. People are introduced to the non-plastic bags which are eco- friendly bags made out of paper and waste clothes.

The NSS and YRCU unit of the College contributes immensely in this regard with a plethora of activities, reaching out to varied sections of society and those in need. This year the unit conducted awareness programmes, talks, street plays, camps and walkathons in association with NGOs, charitable and social service societies, hospitals and government departments in an effort to reach out to varied sections of society and those in need.

Some of their endeavours were blood donation, fund raising to help street children and orphans, AIDS awareness, relief for victims of natural calamities, awareness campaigns to end violence against women, energy conservation campaigns, participating in the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan by conducting local cleaning campaigns, campaign against organic farming, environment protection and campaign against pollution. Days such as International Day against National Voluntary Blood Donation Day, UN International Day of Older Persons, Gandhi Jayanti, etc were commemorated so as to spread the message to the public.

Evidence of Success

The College won the Appreciation Award by PDO of adopted village, on the best activities conducted by the NSS unit.

A Green Audit was conducted and the College has framed an Environment Policy for the institution. Several practices that encourage a spirit of environmental friendliness were implemented in the College and the Community .Green initiatives such as practicing organic farming, conservation of water bodies, promoting water literacy, cleaning of the college campus, solid waste management and promoting the use of eco-friendly products were taken up.

The promotion of cloth bag ,a product designed and developed by Eco club of the college as an alternative to plastic carry bags was popularized among the people of rural areas. It also facilitated economic empowerment through providing employment opportunities to entrepreneurs. The students of the College have opted to use cloth bags instead of plastic bags.

Problems Encountered:

  • Difficult to change the set habits of people.
  • There is a tendency to discount effects of pollution which is not clearly visible, especially in the rural areas. People in rural places either burn or dump waste in the surrounding water bodies and feel there is no accumulation of waste in their surroundings.
  • Non availability of disposal methods, systems for electric waste, plastic waste.
  • The lack of clarity on effects of GST on social entrepreneurship has slowed down initiatives in production of cloth bags as an alternative to plastics.

 

 

BEST PRACTICE – 2

SAVE HISTORICAL HERITAGE PROGRAMME

  • Objective of the Practice
  • To instill a feeling of pride and sensitize students about the built heritage of the region around Gadag.
  • To create awareness about India’s rich cultural Heritage.
  • To inculcate belongingness towards historical monuments leading to cultural patriotism.
  • To interact with local people and Government agencies regarding preservation and restoration of monuments.
  • To help Archeological Survey of India in identifying historical centers.
  • The Context

 In the fields of atrs,literature, culture, spiritual and industry, Gadag has its own heritage since long back.It is also a tourist place with greenery and being visited by many nature-lovers.The temples with enthralling sculptures Basadis, ancient monuments, artists, painters, musicians of international fame, reknowned poets, writers, playwrights, actors, directors, spiritual leaders, seers, scholars, social reformers, religious pivots who take people in good path – all these have enhanced the internal richness of Gadag District. The old temples and monuments engraved in the style of Kalyana Chalukya , Hoysala, Vijayanagar are the precious possessions of Gadag district.

 In this context the college has taken this initiative as a unique programme as “Save Historical Heritage”with the help of department of History.

 

The Practice

The National Educational Policy of 2014 laid special emphasis on heritage education. Ministry of Culture declared ‘Swachha Smarak Abhiyan’ mission in 2014.

India has a rich heritage of 5000 years that incorporates a storehouse of archaeological fortunes and mind-blowing monuments. Monuments remind us of our heritage. They are a mirror of the past. They are like a treasure for the nation and a symbol of pride. They help us appreciate our past and in development of knowledge and thoughts.

Cultural heritage dimension needs to be included at all levels of education.

  • In this context it will be an added impetus and a learner centric heritage awareness programme, where in students by participating in the save Historical Heritage Programme will develop a sense of belongingness about the cultural property of the nation in the form of monuments.
  • Knowledge through heritage education about Gadag’sunique
  • Creating awareness and inculcating a sense of pride about heritage is the fundamental duty of educational institutions in general and teachers in particular.

This programme is essentially designed to preserve and protect heritage buildings from:

  • Lack of awareness among neighbourhood residents that leads to scratching, spitting on monuments by the visitors and localities.
  • Vandalism and natural weathering.

Students of the History Department along with NSS, Youth Red Cross wing volunteers  visit the monuments around Gadag every year with all necessary equipments like axes, sickles, rope etc. They clear the debris accumulated due to the ravages of time. Students along with the staff, clean monuments, restore the scattered parts of the temples like pillars, sculptures, idols, panels of decorative motifs and clear weeds and plants covering the monuments.

In addition to this, the college also organizes Heritage Walks, Museum visits and study tour to the world Heritage sites in India.

Evidence of Success

  • Heritage awareness created through the Save Historical Heritage Programmeboosted the learning experience.
  • Provided an opportunity for students to contribute to society in meaningful ways.
  • Created awareness and tolerance towards pluralistic cultural diversity through this programme which was conducted in temples, Basadis, Mosques, Tombs and Forts alike.
  • Localities have become more aware of their proud historical sites and are now cooperating in its preservation.
  • Promoted educational institutions-community partnerships due to the interaction with the local community of the places where heritage monuments are located.
  • Offered learning opportunities that value each student’s life and experiences. Youths were thrilled and excited when they were actually involved and participated in the restoration and preservation tasks.
  • Facilitated Institution Social Responsibility (ISR) of preserving the built heritage for posterity with students’ involvement.
  • Understanding the past and the better knowledge about the same contributes to development of healthy society.
  • Instills pride, love and respect for our culture through collective and conscious efforts devised by the college.
  • Problems Encountered and Resources Required
  • Convincing the local people of the villages where monuments are located is the biggest challenge as they are very possessive and superstitious about the monuments.
  • Interacting with the staff of the village Panchayats and village headman, taking them into confidence and getting their support in the preservation of the monuments is the biggest task.
  • There is an element of risk like injury, snake bite etc. when students work on the site to clear the debris, cut the roots of the trees, clean the monuments and shift the scattered parts of the temples to their original place.

 

Notes  

Along with the Save Historical Heritage Programme, the college has been conducting various programmes to create awareness about the cultural heritage both tangible and intangible like Museum visits, Heritage Walks, Heritage related projects, visit to historical places in surrounding regions, study tours to world heritage sites in India and cultural fests with the theme of Heritage.