Report on the community living camp, located in Yaldhur Village,Srinivaspura Taluk of Kolar district, Karnataka
March 9-10, 2018   

School of Education at Chitradurga in collaboration with GRAMA & CSA
March 4 – 5, 2016.

The Community Living Camp was organized by the School of Education, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), on 4th and 5th of March, 2016 for first year B. Ed and M.A (Ed) students under Grameena Abhivruddi Mathu Adhyayana Kendra (GRAMA), Challakere, Chitradurga District. The main objectives of the camp were to promote dignity of labour, understand the importance of community living and social responsibility, to develop leadership qualities, to develop social, moral and personal values, to be disciplined in routine habits of life, to plan and execute community service, to conserve natural resources and to build a sustainable community.

The students of the School of Education, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), had a brief interaction with the staff of GRAMA on the first day of the camp. The Programme Coordinator, Mr. Vijay Sridhar, shared about the vision and the reason for initiating GRAMA, its current mission and various projects undertaken. The founder, Girijama-Rudhraiya observed hunger, poverty, lack of women empowerment in the villages of Karnataka and took interest to empower the women thus, started an NGO called GRAMA. The vision of GRAMA is to empower women and to enable decision making, irrespective of caste, creed and religion. GRAMA was registered on 12 July 1989, under Indian Trust Act. GRAMA is built by people and institutions such as Self Help Groups (SHG’s), Village Watershed Management Committees, Village Farmers' Committees and other groups to promote sustainability especially among children and women. Some projects and initiatives undertaken by GRAMA are to provide microfinance through NABARD Financial Services, Savings and Credit activities, Income Generation Activities, Entrepreneurship Awareness Programmes, Entrepreneurship Development Programmes, Watershed Development Programmes, Organic Farming, etc. There are about 1295 SHG’s with 8,500 members working in different villages that are involved in various income driven activities.

   

After a brief interaction with the staff of GRAMA, the students went to Gopannahalli for a village visit, to bring awareness about Non Formal Education among the school students and their parents. The school children at Gopannahalli gave a cultural performance followed by a play by CHRIST (Deemed to be University) students about women education and women empowerment. Through this play the B.Ed students urged the parents to send their wards to informal after-school education. Students of B. Ed and M.A (Ed) were divided into groups to interact with teachers and parents in the village through a survey that focused on importance of holistic education, issues with regular sessions in school, co-curricular activities in school, health and hygiene, life skills, carrier guidance, vocational training and communication skills. The parents and teachers showed great enthusiasm during this interaction and discussed the issues in detail.

    On second day of the camp, a joint discussion regarding the previous day's interaction of the students of CHRIST (Deemed to be University) with the school students and teachers was held with the GRAMA staff. We discussed the issues faced by the school students and parents based on their interaction such as lack of computer training facilities and computer education, communication gap between students and teachers as well as parents and teachers, poor quality food provided for   mid-day meals, lack of first aid, lack of toilet facilities for students, maintenance issues of student report cards, no structured parent – teacher meetings and the parents not being aware of Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) pattern of evaluation and assessment. Though the teachers provide chances to participate in cultural programmes, the students are not motivated in off stage events such as poetry writing, story-telling, etc. The members of GRAMA said they would do their best to overcome these challenges and take necessary steps to implement the feedback received and set up the Informal (After school) Education in association with CHRIST (Deemed to be University).

    The visit to GRAMA and Gopanahalli was an enriching experience for us, the students of CHRIST (Deemed to be University). It provided valuable insights about the school administration in villages, the life of people, interests of the students and the challenges faced by students, teachers and parents. It also gave us an idea as to the abilities and skills required to interact and engage with school students and parents.  We are grateful to the School of Education, CHRIST (Deemed to be University) under the leadership of Dr Prakasha GS, Dr Jacqueline Kareem and Dr Greta for this wonderful experience.