Best Practice I: Women Empowerment
1. Title of the Practice: Women Empowerment
2. Objectives of the Practice: (100 words)
Every individual deserves equal opportunities to expand his or her wigs of capacity to the fullest potential in life, but the social menace i.e. the prevalent gender bias/discrimination in society impedes the attainment of this desire. This has drastically and adversely impacted the lives of both genders; particularly it is the females that are the most disadvantageous group. Incidences in the recent past have shaken the faith in the system and given wake up call for all of us. Considering the pervading gender discrimination in our society at various places regarding the allocation of various facilities and opportunities for self-development ensuring equity and equality, our institution organizes a number of awareness programmes to enlighten the girl students about their specific rights and opportunities to attain equitable status in all spheres of life making them physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually strong and giving them empowerment and self-reliance. Educating and empowering girl (from SC, ST and Muslim community in the catchment area) means will help two families, besides people of the society around her.
3. The Context: (150 words)
The origin of gender discrimination can be traced back to the patriarchal social system since olden times with its underlying prejudice against the female gender whereby the females are assigned a subordinate position in their families and society. This tacit agreement among the male members of a patriarchal society about their superiority often results in an indifferent and callous attitude towards the females leading to various forms of oppressions, violence and injustice against women. It affects various facets of a woman’s life comprising the opportunities of attainment of education, health, participative decision making etc. Apex College organizes various women empowerment activities and programmes through its various cells to inculcate among the students gender sensitivity and moral responsibility for each individual, thereby creating an atmosphere of equity and justice for females by providing them equal material, human and intellectual resources for achieving higher standards of living in various spheres of life.
4. The Practice: (400 words)
In order to give a congenial and productive environment to its female employees as well as students Apex College organizes various women empowerment programmes through its various cells like- Internal Complaints Committee (Formerly Anti-Sexual Harassment Cell), Legal Literacy and Women Cell etc. The college considers it its foremost priority to create an environment of equality and impartial justice which is conducive to the holistic development of its stakeholders. The unprecedented situation of pandemic has also given rise to new challenges. Various studies show that cases of domestic violence against females have considerably increased during the pandemic situation which makes it imperative to invest the females with a sense of moral courage to face the emergent crisis.
Activities like awareness about the importance of vaccination among students and clearing their doubts associated with the side effects of vaccination, Essay Writing Competitions, Stress Management in Covid 19 Pandemic, Laws for Girls Safety and Security etc. to create awareness among the young generation about the provisions and laws related to dowry and domestic violence were organised. The chief was to acquaint the girl students with their legal rights which were meant for sustaining their self-esteem, physical and psychological security against any kind of domestic violence. Apart from enhancing the awareness of students regarding their legal rights and moral responsibilities, the above-mentioned activities were also intended to develop the stress management skills of students during the pandemic period. The institution wants to make them learn how to sustain the psychological pressures of the unprecedented situation of pandemic crisis without indulging in any unlawful conduct, thereby transforming them into a respectable and responsible citizen.
5. Evidence of Success: (200 words)
The various cells had a thorough discussion with the participants regarding the relevance and value of various activities organized by these cells. It was observed that the execution of such awareness programmes instilled in the students a sense of self confidence and moral courage to confront the challenges of life. Various activities related to women empowerment to assess their responses on the efficacy of various programmes and activities like-Self Defence, Legal Aid Camp; Poster Making Competition on the theme of corona vaccination; Essay Writing Competition on the drastic aftermath of the pandemic COVID 19; webinar on ‘Laws for Girls Safety and Security’; importance of learning stress management skills and realizing the worth of mutual co-operation in a state of crisis. The response received from the students showed that they are highly benefitted from the programmes and activities.
6. Problems Encountered and Resources Required: (150 words).
Initially it was a big challenge to convince and encourage parents residing in villages and conservative parents of city side under catchment area of the college to send their daughter for education and even more difficult to rope them in for higher education in colleges after their 12th level schooling and increase enrolment of female students in college. During the execution of these programmes, the conveners/ In-charges faced certain problems. One of the major issues was to make the girl students believe in the actual implementation of these laws, despite all their legal awareness, in a social setup which is still governed by the orthodox conventions of patriarchal psyche. While sharing their personal experiences some of the girl students revealed that in their social setup women are still not granted the right of exercising their freedom of choice and action to take important decisions for themselves and their families. Another problem was the dearth of financial resources. All positive efforts and enthusiastic participation of in-charges of various cells and activities is likely to fail in the absence of requisite financial assistance for the successful completion of such programmes. Timely financial support may enhance the level of their performance.
Best Practice II: Value inculcation, Health Awareness through Outreach and Environmental Consciousness
1.Title of the Practice: Value inculcation, Health Awareness through Outreach and Environmental Consciousness
2. Objectives of the Practice (100 words):
The main objective of the practice is
- To inculcate among the students the values viz. equality, mutual respect, tolerance, non-violence, nationalism, humanity, sense of national integrity and universal brotherhood
- To make them responsible human beings with a sound understanding for a healthy, hygienic and positive life with a feeling of the suffering of poor and unreached and remedies through health awareness
- To make them Environment conscious and the importance of a clean, green and sustainable environment, its preservation, conservation, restoration, and enrichment by way of reducing the degradation which can be bequeathed to future generations
3. The Context: (150 words)
This practice is very relevant in context of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the recommendations of NEP 2020. It is universally accepted that the purposes of education is to develop human values, caring, sharing and handholding of the needy and make the students aware of the Environmental concerns for a happy, healthy and prosperous life. Unfortunately, we are living in an era of economic, industrial and technological growth having more focus on domain and materialistic knowledge leading to self-centred life without values, quality, concern for others and environmental sensibilities. Therefore, it becomes essential for leading a balanced life to acquaint our young generation about the ethics, human values, health and environmental sustainability. We cannot overlook the continual degradation of human values as well as environmental concerns. Keeping in view the aforesaid concerns, HEIs can play a vital role to sensitize the students for these important issues. With the sole understanding of the issues discussed, we at Apex College prepare our students to address the issues by having clear understating of the Do’s and Don’t’s.
4. The Practice: (400 words)
In order to create an atmosphere of equity and justice for each individual irrespective of caste, creed and religion, the college endeavours to give an inclusive environment to all its stake holders with caring for all approach. The college teaching staff strives hard to inculcate these values among the students. In tune with this concept, Noorpura village was adopted where the majority of the residents are illiterate and laborers, unaware of health and hygiene aspects of life and type of nutrition they require particularly for children and female. NSS officer along with volunteers with the help of medical expert and local authority awarded them and their children about healthy practice of selecting and cooking nutritional low cost food maintaining nutritional values. Survey was conducted by NSS officer with the medical expert by measuring weight of the inhabitant of the locality particularly children to determine effect of malnutrition and other deficiency among them. Inhabitants of the locality were advised to take traditional food rather than readily available processed food and traditional preparation of healthy drinks. NSS Volunteers demonstrated preparation of food and cooking process of low cost nutritious and balanced diet. Besides, they also gave hygiene tips to the residents of locality like
- Proper washing of hands and then washing vegetables before chopping and not to wash it after chopping to maintain its nutritional value
- Making frequent use of mixed vegetables
- Adding lemon to cooked vegetables before use for increase absorption of iron in the body to improve hemoglobin levels
- Tips were given to maintain proper cleanliness and hygiene
The institute takes various environmental protection initiatives through a variety of programs viz. Tree Plantation, Awareness rallies and other competitions. The NSS Unit of Apex College organized an awareness campaign about the ill effects of the single use plastic goods and polythene in the adopted village. The NSS volunteers participated in the event with great enthusiasm and zeal. The volunteers conducted a door-to-door awareness campaign in the village. As an environment protection initiative, the college charges no parking fee from students who commute to the college by bicycles. Green day is also celebrated in the college. College is looking forward to engage in more such practices to inculcate moral values among its students and motivate them to save and protect the environment.
5. Evidence of Success: (200 words)
Appreciation from word of mouth about the values inculcated in our students during their stay in the college and even afterwards (i.e. alumni) by various stakeholders (Parents, Employers, Peers) reflects evidence of success and gives a satisfaction to us. The tree plantation drive ‘Sapling to Plant Yojna’ has been very successful and has developed a strong commitment and firm determination among students to save the planted sapling. Students suggested that program on value inculcation and Environmental Protection Initiatives need to be organized regularly. Health Awareness through Outreach has been very successful and the people of the area appreciated the college initiative to impart them the tips of health and hygiene maintenance leading to change in their life style. The people of the locality adopted cooking method what they have learned during programme and became careful about their children and nutritious and balance diet. They adopted the local dish ‘Raabri’ in breakfast which is very economical and nutritious. The ladies were more aware of the sanitation, health and hygiene. It has been observed that on adopting locality for community service and organizing such awareness camp for them has brought significant change in the life style of the inhabitant and made them well aware of their health and cleanliness aspect in life.
6. Problems Encountered and Resources Required: (150 words)
It was difficult to organize a number of scheduled programs for value inculcation and environmental protection initiatives due to COVID-19 protocol. However, the college devotes its time and energy to sensitize the students towards these important issues but due to financial constraints and lack of facilities on the part of the students, the college faces certain limitations to run such awareness drives at mass level. Moreover, organizing such activities along with the tight academic schedule is a challenge in itself. Sometimes, it becomes very difficult to involve a good number of students in these activities.NSS volunteers, other than local, don‘t want to stay longer after the classes are over. A few of the parents were seen little apprehensive about their wards visiting such localities and mixing with the target group. Being a rural college, majority of our students belong to weaker section of society and use public transport with fixed timings. Therefore, they are not allowed by their parents to remain in the college after academic hours.