Students to take up community service during summer vacation

Koraput: To keep students socially engaged during the summer vacation, the PM SHRI Government SSD High School at Bilesu in Rayagada district launched “Seva Sankalp”, a unique campaign to encourage students to participate in community service, village cleanliness and informal teaching activities.

As part of the campaign, senior students are voluntarily teaching younger children in their villages while also taking part in collective cleanliness drives. The programme has drawn appreciation from villagers and parents alike for promoting leadership and social commitment among students.

The initiative conceptualised by the teachers of the school led by National Teachers’ award-winning teacher Dwiti Chandra Sahu. After holding meetings with students before the vacation, the school authorities explained their responsibilities and duties during the holidays and encouraged them to actively contribute to society. “The main aim of the campaign is to strengthen leadership qualities, co-curricular learning, unity among village children and a sense of social responsibility,” Sahu said.

Under the programme, students have been assigned activities under three separate themes. Through “A Day for Home” initiative, students are contributing to household cleanliness and decoration work at their homes. Second, under the “A Day for Village” campaign, students from different schools in the same village are jointly conducting cleanliness drives in their localities.

The third and most appreciated component, titled “I Became a Teacher” encourages senior students to spend at least an hour every day teaching younger children basic literacy and numeracy, including alphabets, spelling, pronunciation and number recognition.

Students from several villages have already begun implementing the programme and are sharing photographs of their activities in school group forums. Villagers have praised the initiative, saying it has enhanced the respect and confidence of children in the eyes of their parents and communities.

“Instead of roaming aimlessly during the holidays, students are happily participating in these meaningful activities. Many parents have called us and expressed their happiness over the initiative,” said S Srinivas Rao Ladi, headmaster of the school.

“The senior students were especially excited about teaching younger children. They have told us that they feel extremely happy after engaging in village cleanliness activities and helping children learn,” he added.

Kiran Saraka, a Class IX student from said, “Teaching small children in my village has given me confidence and happiness. Earlier, we spent holidays without any proper activity, but now we feel we are doing something meaningful for society.”

Another student Runi Kondagari of Bairagi Halwa village participating in the cleanliness drive said, “When we clean our village together and help younger children study, villagers appreciate us. It feels good to earn respect from elders and parents.”

Senior teacher Birat Hial said some villages have invited teachers to observe the learning activities being conducted by students. “Very soon, we, along with the headmaster, will visit the villages to monitor the programme,” he said.

School authorities, however, pointed out that due to poor mobile network connectivity in several remote areas, photographs and reports from some interior villages could not be collected. Educationists have described the “Seva Sankalp” campaign as a highly effective initiative that keeps students mentally active and academically engaged during vacations. “This model could be replicated by other schools and the education department,” said Jagdish Chandra Dora, an academician.