Campus Community Partnerships in India

C2P Program in India: Introduction

India's commitment to education and community is manifested in India's National Service Scheme. The establishment of the work of the foundation in India builds on this tradition of service and learning in the internationalization of our foundations programs.

Purpose

C2P is working to establish academic service learning as a standard part of the education experience of students (and faculty), promote student social entrepreneurship and social innovation in higher education and to benefit community development

Studies show that students who are engaged in community service programs are more likely to remember what they are taught and enjoy their learning experience. They gain self-confidence, learn social responsibility and become better citizens. They learn entrepreneurship. C2P seeks to recognize the best practices of campus community partnerships and student community service projects.

Activities

The foundation's expansion in India was inaugurated in October 2006 by President Jimmy Carter and Mrs. Rosalynn Carter. This was the first time the Award was presented outside the US. View pictures of the event. In 2007, the Foundation began receiving applications for the Community Academic Service Entrepreneur (CASE) grant program for innovative service learning projects, as was announced at the inaugural Award event in New Delhi.

Elaborations

Education: India, the world's largest democracy and among the fastest growing economies, has a commitment to education that is dated in centuries rather than decades. From the introduction of the concept of zero in ancient times to the contribution of metallurgical and textile production knowledge during Britain's industrial revolution, Indians have been leaders in the application of theory to practical problems. In classical times, India's viharas such as Nalanda and Taxashila attracted the cream of Asia's scholars much like Ivy League institutions in the United States do now.

Rabindranath Tagore, India's first Nobel Prize winner initiated India's national movement for freedom and social educational and economic awareness throughout the nation. Tagore, one of the foremost thinkers in the country at the time, spent time in building educational infrastructure called Shantineketan in 1901 - an open air school. Here the students and teachers took an active role in connecting the urban with the rural members of the community.

Community: India's culture of strong family and community ties constitutes a heritage of social awareness and commitment. Long before Mahatma Gandhi taught the world the principles of non-violent social change, the dharmic roots of this philosophy had been established as the very core of Indian culture. About 200 BCE, the emperor Ashoka decreed as law nonviolence, tolerance, respect, humane treatment, and generosity towards all. India still benefits from these values.

Seva is not a new concept to India. Mahatma Gandhi said, "If the body serves but the mind is absent, our service can bear no fruit at all...Students can, by learning the art of voluntary discipline, fit themselves for leadership in the various branches of the nation's work. They can set apart a certain time every week, if not every day, for service in a village nearest to their institutions and devote a certain time daily for national service."

The National Service Scheme (NSS). The NSS is a value-based youth program aimed at developing the personality of educated youth by involving them in community development. Mahatma Gandhi gave inspiration to the Indian youth to participate in the movement for Indian independence and the social uplift of what he called "the down-trodden masses of our nation."

NSS aims to engage undergraduate students in various voluntary activities of social service and national development which "while making a contribution to socio-economic progress would also provide opportunities to the students to understand and appreciate the problems of the communities and awaken social consciousness." Further "developing healthy contacts between the students and teachers on the one hand and establishing a constructive linkage between the campus and the community on the other hand." This enhances learning and community development at the same time.

Foundation: The programs of our foundation reinforce engaged learning by supporting campus-community projects where students make a difference to the lives of others and their own. This method in education requires academic intensity, greater expectations from the students, and for them to take greater responsibility for their learning. When students learn in the context of where they are expected to contribute it makes their learning more relevant, gives them a sense of social responsibility, and develops their self esteem, empowerment, and self efficacy.

India Service Learning Examples: There are many excellent examples of academic service learning in India. These few examples come from the award program in October 2006.

  • St. Agnes College in Karnataka, India Watershed Management & Development Program: Students help village communities in watershed management with the assistance of the faculty from the college. Video presentation (MP4)

  • Panjab University in Panjab, India Adult Literacy Program: students teach reading and writing to adult illiterates to make a difference to their life and their own under the supervision of faculty. CNBC Video

  • Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh, India Polio Eradication Program: Students use communication skills to help parents understand the importance of vaccinating children against polio with faculty supervision. CNBC Video

CASE India: Application available on servicebook.org

Community Academic Service Entrepreneur (CASE) grants program is a student competition for the most innovative and sustained community service project in which the student engages a faculty advisor to guide the process to help a community or village (solving a social problem). The winners receive grants to implement their projects.

What does the student get as a winner?

  • Best proposal is awarded a grant of Rs. 20,000 for the purpose of implementing the project.
  • The student is presented with a Certificate of Merit from Foundation.
  • The student projects are published on the foundation's websites.

What does the student do to win the grant?

  • Identify an innovative and sustainable community service project.
  • Find a community organization/place/ village, where this proposal would be implemented
  • Ask a faculty member to oversee the project.
  • Apply for the grant on line.

Grant criteria, application, and other information is available by logging on to servicebook.org

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