Bhubaneswar, Oct. 12: Serving the underprivileged in the society is an opportunity which can help shape the character of students as they get educated, speakers said at a program organised to mark the 17th anniversary of ‘Jaago’, an initiative of Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University here to promote learning in slum children.
Students of SOA have been reaching out to slum children providing them personalized tuition while extending other help like books and uniform besides healthcare benefit since 2007.
“The Jaago initiative launched in 2007 has been supporting underprivileged children while it was promoting the sense of responsibility towards the society in our students,” Ms. Saswati Das, Vice-President of SOA, who attended the program as the chief guest, said.
It has been creating a spirit of community welfare among the students while helping them to become good citizens, she said adding participating in the Jaago activity would enrich humanitarian aspects in them.
Ms. Das said SOA was committed to the well being of the children it was working for so that they could aspire for a bright future for themselves.
Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda, Vice-Chancellor of SOA, said the education system was intended for the greater good of the society while pointing out that the National Education Policy (NEP) had laid stress on students’ involvement in social work. The activities of ‘Jaago’ had expanded to all institutions under the university, he said.
Prof. Manjula Das, Controller of Examination, Prof. Pradip Kumar Sahu, Dean of Institute of Technical Education and Research (ITER), SOA’s faculty of engineering and technology, Prof. Santosh Kumar Rout, Dean of Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IAS), SOA’s faculty of agricultural sciences, Prof. Jyoti Ranjan Das, Dean (Students’ Welfare), Prof. Renu Sharma, Additional Dean (Students’ Affairs), ITER and Prof. Anita Das, Mentor of Jaago, spoke on the occasion.
