Snehagram through Service Learning

 


We arrived at the opportunity to work at Snehagram as a result of a requirement of one of our subjects, i.e. “Service Learning” which is incorporated into the fourth-semester curriculum at Christ (Deemed to be University).

The purpose of this course is to provoke and increase the student's sensitivity and awareness of social responsibility by providing first-hand knowledge and opportunities to apply his or her academic knowledge and skills. Furthermore, the community scouts volunteer to assist and strengthen disadvantaged groups. Thus, the university's goal is to integrate the relationship between students, classrooms, and the environment, resulting in a single learning experience that stands to benefit both the environment and the students. The student progresses towards making positive changes in society while enhancing his or her education.

As a part of this requirement, we got the chance to work as volunteers at Snehagram. Snehagram formed a partnership with Christ University to provide academic and technical training to students in order to prepare them for the coming years. The Center of Social Action (CSA) took on the initiative at first, but eventually, the University turned it into a formal program named "SPANDAN" which consisted of four departments assisting Snehagram in improving their academic and entrepreneurial skills on a regular basis. Currently, under the Department of Psychology, there are five of us volunteering at Snehagram where 2 hours a week is spent teaching them a range of things varying from life skills and their application to the daily lives of the students, academic writing, morals as well as dance and art.

 As a result of the pandemic crisis, the University and Snehagram coordinators have given us the opportunity to teach and communicate with the students by sending them our respective videos once or twice a week, and weekly meetings with the students are also facilitated in order to obtain feedback from the students and play educational games with them. The partnership program with Christ (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, is kept alive through this online collaboration. Not only do we integrate theoretical knowledge and practical skills with this opportunity provided to us, but we also focus on improving critical thinking skills, which reinforce career exploration.

- Nikitha Dinesh

CHRIST (Deemed to be University). 

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