City students will spend vacation working in villages………Priya Ramakrishnan
City students want to do their bit for rural India. Over a hundred of them have thrown their hats into the ring to get a chance to spend the summer vacation working as volunteers in rural areas.
An NGO, iVolunteer, has taken the initiative under the Indian Fellow Youth Programme to take students from various cities to remote villages, where they will be working on developmental projects. The fellowship offers a unique challenge to students with a philanthropic bent of mind.
iVolunteer has tied up with other NGOs working in villages, which will host the selected students and provide them basic accommodations. “The idea is to introduce the students to a world beyond the city limits. At the same time, it will give them chance to use their knowledge for developmental projects in villages. The selected students will be sent to villages across 10 states for a period of four weeks,” Shalabh Sahai, director and co-founder, iVolunteer, said.
The selected students will be given basic training on how to live and work in rural areas. They will also be trained in basic communication skills and social developmental skills. “We are screening applications from students based on their area of interest, skills and willingness to work without monetary reward,” Sahai said.
Mihika Mirchandani, a Jai Hind College student who volunteered for the programme in 2007, said, “The programme opened my eyes to rural India, and the problems faced by the women there. It was a vacation well spent, and it widened my horizons.”
Durgesh Solanki, another student from the same college, was placed at Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh to work on Narmada Bachao Andolan. “Initially, I had been against the project. But after working with the team, I started supporting it,” he said.
“We always try to ensure that students work with people whose languages they know. We will soon be closing down receiving applications for this year’s programme,” Sahai said. Students can register for the programme at www.ivolunteer.in