Published in University News, Association of Indian Universities
Abstract
The
paper presents a strategic action plan which aims at creating such student
community, which is capable of planning effective projects based on the
ideas/concepts/ knowledge gained from formal education and implementing it
skillfully in the society. It talks about motivating students of colleges and
universities to respond to the social and cultural needs of the society. The
paper highlights the strategies of providing humanitarian values, a platform to
advertise itself in the competitive world, where people mostly think of working
for their own benefit. The key words depicting some special concepts related to
higher education are presented herewith.
Key words: Community Service Research Cell,
Golden Book, Votive Tablets, Action Research.
Introduction:
The advancement of knowledge through research is an essential function of higher education. The present
era demands innovation and
interdisciplinary approach in field of higher education in social science with
long-term orientations on social and cultural aims and needs. Keeping pace with
the demand of time the university education system must have the scope to
create and disseminate knowledge
through research and provide a service
to the community in socio cultural field. In order to enable university
education system to play such significant role in society ‘Community Service Research Cell’ can be established in university.
The cell can provide the students an opportunity for individual development along
with the scope for education for
citizenship and for active
participation in society, with a worldwide vision for the consolidation
of human rights, sustainable development, democracy and peace, in a context of
justice.
Role of ‘Community Service Research Cell’:
The ‘Community Service
Research Cell’ can provide platform to those students who are interested in
planning effective projects based on the ideas/ concepts / knowledge gained
from formal education and implementing it skillfully in society. In this way it
can promote research oriented community service. This research will be
definitely interdisciplinary in nature as any crisis related to human life
usually needs to be seen in its historical context to understand the roots
effectively. It is pertinent to understand the psychological impact of the
crisis in the lives of the people. The economic and the financial perspectives
are needed to be explored to plan an effective project to combat the crisis. Besides,
literary/ artistic/ educational or other disciplinarian approaches can enable a
project thereby creating a positive impact in the social condition of the
locality.
The
cell can provide platform to the
students for
two types of researches. Firstly, ‘Action
Research’ and Secondly, ‘Theoretical
Research’. The Action Research can deal with
the direct implementation of a project in a locality in order to deal with
specific crisis of the locality. The Theoretical
Research can deal with the planning of modules which could be implemented in a
specific locality or society in general, in order to combat the crises of a
locality or society.
The functioning of such cells like CSRC
requires an Advisory Board comprised of honorary members and a Coordinator.
The CSRC could provide support and
guidance to the team of students from same college or different colleges or
from any university, who has conceived an idea for Action or Theoretical Research.
Even the cell can be open to receive the ideas of the passed out students of
college or university and voluntary organizations. The cell can play an
important role by opening an avenue for the young generation to express their
ideas to serve the society on the basis of their knowledge and experiences.
Role
of Coordinator in CSRC:
In CSRC the role of coordinator is
very vital. The coordinator will serve as bridge between the advisory board and
the student team and shoulder the responsibilities of understanding the idea
conceived by the student team, explaining the objectives of CSRC to the
students, identifying the resource persons who could help the student team in
better understanding of the idea conceived by them and support and guide the
team to prepare the project proposal. Finally the coordinator will inspire the team to work on the project.
Apart from these responsibilities the coordinator can organize workshops for
the student team with the resource persons. Equipped by such workshops the
student team can prepare the project proposal and present it before the
advisory board and the resource persons in the meeting organized by the
coordinator. The effective proposals could be accepted by CSRC and forwarded to
the Ministry of Higher Education for funding. The amount may be disbursed to
the account of the university, if the Ministry of Higher Education sanctions grant for the project. The documentation of the accomplished project may
be send to the Ministry of Higher Education via CSRC. In case of Action
Research the special mention of the arrangements made for the sustainability of
the effects created by the project must be emphasized.
As in case of Action Research the financial
support for the project is a vital issue, so the Advisory Board and the
Resource persons can motivate the team to approach companies and the local
businessmen to provide financial support so as to make the project possible. Since
the subjects like Economics and Business Management deal with financial issues,
so the students of above said subjects can be motivated to enrich the project
proposal by presenting innovative ways to avail the financial support of
companies and the local businessmen for the project. In such case the students’
team should be suggested to include students having innovative ideas from above
said subjects in their team.
Coping with the
students’ mentality of studying to secure high marks to grab good jobs:
Motivating students to work for
CSRC is really a challenging issue. Actually the main challenge is to cope up
with the students’ mentality of studying to secure high marks to grab good jobs.
The students could be motivated to go
for research under CSRC by introducing the concept of ‘Golden Book’ in the Ministry of Higher Education.
In case of Action Research, if the
project is found to be successfully implemented in the locality and in case of
‘Theoretical Research’ if the module presented in the project is found effective
by the team of experts appointed by the Ministry of Higher Education, the name
of the university and the student team could be registered in the ‘Golden Book’. In that case a separate ‘Golden Book Page’ can be created in the website of Ministry of Higher
Education, which will contain the details of the projects performed by the student
team under CSRC of a university. By the virtue of registration of name in ‘Golden Book’ the University and the
members of student team can get a ‘Golden
Book ID No.’ and the University can get the right of issuing Votive Tablets against
its entry in
Golden Book.
The ‘Votive Tablet’ is the tablet dedicated and given in fulfillment of
a pledge or vow in ancient India. The use of these tablets for above said
purpose can motivate the students to take the pledge or the vow with the vision
to serve the society through their effective social work.
The practice of giving votive tablets originated in India and the practice was carried forward
by the Buddhist monks to other countries of the world. The
Buddhist sites from 2nd to 1st century
BC are found decorated with such votive tablets. During ancient times the villagers
of the Thai province when visited their relatives or friends of another
provinces used to bring along votive tablets as a form of souvenir. The monks made these tablets not only for
distribution among the faithful, but also as a meditative exercise.
Significance of
Votive Tablets:
Votive Tablet can be a significant
gift for the guests of the University. It can be presented as souvenir, memento
which can reflect the special status of the University. ‘Votive’ word has a
sense of pledge, this feature of the word ‘Votive’ can be highlighted to
motivate students to take a pledge to uplift a locality. In the existing
competitive world most people are motivated to work for their own benefit or
profit. The works inspired by the humanitarian values are rarely encouraged. Under
such circumstances, votive tablets will advertise the glamour of humanitarian
values. If the right to distribute votive tablets is provided to a university
by a remarkable event organized by the Ministry of Higher Education, then it
will give rise to positive competition among the college and university
students to facilitate society through CSRC and get their names registered in ‘Golden
Book’. The provision of mentioning the names of companies, industries and the
local businessmen in the ‘Golden Book’ and the provision of presenting a
special Votive Tablet to them by the University in accomplishment of the
project can motivate them to provide financial support for the project.
The use of Votive
Tablet can be made more meaningful, if it contains Golden Book Registration
Number, Pledge statement, Website address, where the details of the project
done could be seen and Star number.
Each star will represent each project. Example: 7* (for seven successfully accomplished
projects).
The Golden Book ID issued to the members of student
team can be in the form of certificate. By the virtue of the certificate, there
could be a provision to secure extra marks in any job interview for government
posts. This provision can motivate students to work under CSRC.
Theoretical
Research and Action Research under CSRC:
Theoretical
Research and Action Research could be done under CSRC. These researches are
needed to be interdisciplinary in nature and to be done in team. In case of Theoretical
Research there should be special thrust to present a module to combat any
prevalent crisis of an area. The team can plan the project for a locality or it
can be presented as a module in general. The aims and objectives, vision, concept
note, feature of the locality where it could be applied, the crises with which
the project will deal, sustainability of the module and the criteria to measure
the impact if the module is implemented in a locality is needed to be very
specific in the research work. In case of Action Research the project is
required to be initiated with the survey of the area, where it is to be
implemented. It may be based on a module presented by any ‘Theoretical Research
Team’ or it could be based on any famous module or combination of more than one
module. But, the module should gear up to the needs and interests of the
concerned locality. Sustainability as well as the period of the ‘Action
Research’ along with the criteria to measure the impact of the project must be
very specific in case of ‘Action Research’.
Role of CSRC
apart from promoting research:
Apart from promoting research, CSRC
can organize interactive sessions with students and eminent personalities as
well as with the student team, whose names have been registered in the Golden
Book. It can organize workshops or lectures for creating awareness among the
students about the mission and vision of CSRC and the scope of working in the
cell. It can also inspire the students to take a pledge to use their knowledge
for upliftment of society. Through the cell, leadership training, time
management training, training for attaining peace of mind could be given to
enable students to develop philosophy of life in order to cope up with the
changes in life and society. At least one such event of duration of 2 hours
could be organized within 45 working days by keeping pace with the time table
of regular post graduation courses.
Maintaining of an open register by
CSRC could give a scope to a single student to write about an idea conceived by
him/her and this practice could help a single student to find other students
having similar thoughts.
Conclusion:
CSRC can mitigate the gap between knowledge and
action. It can motivate the students for social work. The locality based action
research under CSRC can lead to the betterment of living standard of the people
of that locality. It can create skilled human resources ready to work in self
help groups. Such efforts could bring in positive changes in the health,
education and various other dimensions of lives of youth, children and women in
a specific locality. The diversified plans can lead to multi faceted development
of an area. The critical thinking ability of the students could also be
enhanced by such research. Apart from that, the students will learn that
securing good marks and grabbing good job is not the sole aim of education.
Enhancing social work through gained knowledge can bring pride and honour for
them. This understanding can lead to the
socialization of students’ personality. Moreover, the humanitarian values will
also get a platform for its advertisement in this competitive world by these
efforts. Along with that the students will get good exposure through social
work and the psychological needs of the students like, the quest for their own
identity and formation of their philosophy of life could also be catered
through it
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