Igniting Brilliance

"I came to this programme as my teacher asked me to participate, since it is a leadership programme that would be of much use for my career. When I came, I thought there would be lecture sessions over the two days, and it would conclude on the second day by issuing a participation certificate to the students. I have attended many such programmes along with my friends. Most of the time, I would be mentally absent from the programme despite my physical presence at the meeting. But this programme was totally different, as all eighty-three student participants were fully engaged—not as onlookers, but as active collaborators.

In the entire two-day programme, only two individuals delivered lectures, and for not more than thirty minutes. It was unique in many aspects. We were drawn from ten different colleges, both undergraduate and postgraduate. Since it was on leadership, we agreed to participate. A variety of activities was given to the students by dividing them into groups. While grouping, the organisers ensured that no group had members from the same college.

So, each group consisted of eight or nine students, all meeting one another for the first time. Over the two days, we went from being strangers to becoming close friends, and we participated enthusiastically in every activity. Many of the activities were conducted through games and role-plays.

From this programme, I take away many things. First, how to take responsibility—for myself, then for my family, my classroom, my friends, my street, and my community. Taking responsibility is leadership. Leading others through my example is leadership. Wherever I go and in whatever activity I undertake, I will act with utmost responsibility. While engaging in such activities, I will keep the nation in mind. One key takeaway from this camp is: ‘If not I, who? If not now, when?’—a quote I heard during an interaction with a professor.

Over these two days, we were not only together as a group, but also in a different state of mind. We had never before discussed topics like society, nation, environment, poverty, and sanitation with our peer group. Now we have realised that we all have a role to play in every aspect of human society. Some kind of fire was ignited in me through the activities we did during the two days.

I learnt a new concept—‘integration’—from this camp: how to be in a group, how to form a group, and how to keep it intact. All of this was achieved through constructive social activities.

When we do such activities, it is not mere social service—it is the discharge of our human responsibility. This is new to me. This kind of training is needed for the youth of our age today. It should be conducted in every college. In terms of both content and methodology, it was new not only to me but to our entire group.

I have attended many such training programmes in different places, but I have not come across one as innovative as this. In college programmes, lectures are organised, certificates are issued, and everything is done mechanically, like a ritual. But here, every action was done organically and consciously. Now, I feel that I am a socially conscious citizen of this country," observed a student participating in the two-day camp from an aided minority women's college in Chennai.

Following the feedback from the students, a faculty member from a state university in Chennai said, "We organise several programmes for students as they are mandated by the university or the funding agency. We invite experts, they come and deliver lengthy lectures, and certificates are issued—and that ends the programme. Enormous academic inputs are given in the form of lectures. Nobody bothers whether these inputs have actually reached the minds of the students.

But in this programme, no expert was involved. All the activities were designed by social activists and carried out by the students. The social activists supervised the activities. They are not professors. The social activists involved only one professor in this programme—someone who has been deeply engaged in outreach programmes during his nearly three decades of service.

Through this exercise, the social activists from Nallore Vattam (a name for the activity) broke the myth that knowledge can be shared only through lectures. Sharing of knowledge can be more effective when students are actively engaged. It is activity-based learning. In this process, what I observed is that a fire was ignited in the minds of the students, and a sense of sensitivity was created through their engagements.

Socially conscious students can be prepared only by involving social activists along with expert academics. In this context, what I feel is that institutions of higher learning need the support of social activists to prepare meaningful, productive, socially conscious students for social action and development practice."

I was invited to be present for the entire programme by the organisers, but my role was to provide input within 20 minutes on the role of youth in bringing fundamental transformation in our society. I explained to them the process of enhancing creative vision, energy, and consciousness among ourselves to bring about transformational change. I illustrated this with the life experiences of MK Gandhi, Tamil poet Bharathi, and Swami Vivekananda.

It was well received by the students, and I could sense this from the feedback session and the observations made by them. From the entire two-day exercise, what I have noticed is that students are ready to transform themselves to work for social causes—but for that to happen, teachers must also transform themselves. They need to work with students and engage them in creative social activities, using different methodological approaches.

By doing so, we can create a new India as envisioned by Vivekananda and MK Gandhi.

The writer is a former Professor and Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Panchayati Raj Studies, Gandhigram Rural Institute. Views expressed are personal