BENGALURU: What was a 10-day practical camp to know about the hardships of village life for second year social work students of St Joseph’s College (autonomous) turned out to be a boon for a government school at a village in the Nanjangud taluk in Mysuru district.
Rohini Gopal Raj, a second year student and convener of the camp, says that they saw the government school in Kothnahalli village was in a bad shape. “We stayed at the school during the camp and saw that it lacked a number of things. They did not not have basics such as benches or tables and chairs and no proper books. We informed our college management about the issue and they agreed to help us,” she adds.
Within a span of week, help arrived in the form of 20 desks and benches, around 300 books to make a small library, computer and related infrastructure. A water purifier was also installed as the school did not have any safe sources of drinking water in the school.
St Joseph’s has decided to adopt the school for a period of two years and will experiment smart techniques of village development, says Rahul Prasad, another student who was part of the camp. There were a total of 27 students who took part in the camp and they came out learning a lot about what people in villages, with less access to various facilities and amenities, face.
Prakash M D, headmaster of the school, says, “Students of the school and I are extremely happy with the interest shown by students of the college. Our facilities are not ideal and we are always glad of anyone who can help. Besides providing benches and other needed things, the students also conducted awareness campaigns on sanitation and financial independence of women in the village. They also provided English language coaching to the students here.”