Leadership for Next Step
https://campusism.blogspot.com/2014/11/leadership-for-next-step.html
Pranjal
Rawat, a final year undergraduate student of economics at Presidency
University, Calcutta, felt something was amiss with the dry academic
theories he learnt in class. So to have a deeper understanding of the
socio-economic discourse, he literally took to the streets. As a
student volunteer, he undertook an extensive survey of pavement
dwellers on behalf of a non governmental organization (NGO) in
Calcutta. "I spent countless nights on pavements to get an idea
about how the economically deprived lead their lives and also tried
to establish a link between crime and destitution," he says.
Deepak
Kedia, a third year undergraduate student of commerce at the
University of Calcutta discovered the value in volunteering when he
joined the undergraduate course. "It helps you get up close and
personal with the real world," says Kedia who is working on an
environment project at Cummins India, the diesel engine manufacturing
company, in Calcutta in association with iVolunteer, a social
enterprise that promotes volunteering among students.
Pranjal
and Deepak are among a growing tribe of students who are discovering
volunteering as a great way to meet new people and do something
worthwhile with their lives. Says Nasreen Rustamfram, a professor at
the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, "Students
participate in volunteering because it adds value to their CVs as
many employers look for social sensibility in a candidate. If a
person has the experience of volunteering, employers know that he or
she may go beyond the call of duty or a fixed job profile and would
be interested in doing more than what his or her job requires,"
she says. According to her, a volunteering job helps students gain a
mature perspective of life. "I know a few students who have
volunteered with Teach for India and come in contact with people of
different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds," she says.
Noyonika
Bose, another final year economics student at Presidency University,
has already interned with three NGOs. Right now she is working for
Child Rights and You (CRY). She says, "I am conducting a survey
of schools in Calcutta slums to find out whether they follow the
guidelines of the Right To Education (RTE) Act. We also carry out
health assessments of children and organise sessions to monitor a
child's progress in school."
Says
Atindra Nath Das, regional director, CRY, "Volunteering is not a
means to pep up one's resume. We aim to change students' mindset
towards children and try to turn them into child rights advocates, so
that when they become decision makers, they can influence opinions in
favour of children and motivate others to be sensitive towards
children." He is happy that in the past few years the number of
applications for volunteering has sharply increased. All the
internship projects at CRY are carried out during semester breaks or
weekends, so that it doesn't interfere with studies. Noyonika feels
that for students like her the lessons learnt outside class are far
more important than academic course work. She says, "All
students must step out of their comfort zone and find out how
theories work in real life."
While
working at an NGO in Himachal Pradesh she learnt how several
villagers lost their livelihoods when they were not allowed access to
the Great Himalayan National Park. As a volunteer with the Mazdoor
Kissan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), Rajasthan, and a few other NGOs
across India, Rawat learnt how government economic policies fail to
improve the lot of the marginalised in society.
He
says, "It gave me first hand knowledge of the state's apathy and
negligence ."
Both
Bose and Rawat hope to keep on doing volunteering work even after
graduating. Says Bose, "I have plans to volunteer with
organisations in the field of child and women trafficking." Das
of CRY says many interns like Bose have become full-time employees of
CRY.
Mohammed
Tanveer's is another case in point. An MBA graduate, he started as a
volunteer with iVolunteer, which links students with several social
enterprises for volunteering jobs. Now, he works full-time as a
relationship manager with the same organisation. He says,
"Volunteering enriches your life and arms you with skills that
will help in any job in the future. For instance, you learn how you
can work with limited resources, which encourages you to think out of
the box." He advises students to take up volunteering activities
to pick up values and ethics. "It will broaden your horizon,"
he says.
Harish
Shaw, an event manager at a Calcutta-based firm, has been a "lifelong
volunteer". While studying at Birla High School, Calcutta, he
started volunteering through iVolunteer and continued doing so even
while pursuing a BTech at Techno India College of Technology, Salt
Lake, Calcutta. "I worked in schools, orphanages, old age homes
and so on. This experience changed my view of life," he says. "I
realised how people in the lower strata of society are always abused.
Keeping this in mind I started 'Otho Jaago' an organisation to spread
consumer rights awareness," he adds. In three years, the
organisation has spread its wings across the state and it comprises
doctors, lawyers, bankers and entrepreneurs. "Volunteering is a
life skill you can't learn in any college or school," he notes.
So
get going, take to the streets if you want a reality check of the
world around you.
WHERE
YOU CAN VOLUNTEER
BENEFITS
1.
Develops awareness of and sensibility to issues and challenges faced
by the deprived in society
2.Instils
in students the importance of corporate social responsibility
3.Helps
students to win brownie points with recruiters and admission officers
of universities abroad
4.Hands-on
experience in the diagnosis of problems, and making appropriate
interventions
5.Develops
appreciation of the need for sustainable and inclusive growth
6.Helps
to develop resource mobilisation and utilisation strategies
*Source: The Telegraph
