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Our new urban projects
Our outreach programmes
The ongoing projects
Camps
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DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WORK & NSS
The inception of the National Service Scheme (NSS) in 1969
added a new chapter to the history of St. Xavier’s College,
Kolkata. With the motto ‘Not Me But You’, NSS has always tried
to make a difference in the society, as well as in the lives of
the college students. From helping at refugee and flood relief
camps during crisis, adopting villages and constructing high
schools at villages, visiting old age homes to organizing
seminars in College, conducting in-campus surveys, teaching the
neighbourhood slum children, undertaking projects to spread
awareness on health and sanitation and initiating the ‘Campus
Cleanliness Drive’ programme, the NSS, since its commencement,
has gone from strength to strength.
 Paikhala, a village situated in north 24 parghanas was adopted
in 1999 and since then this village has seen an overall
development through the efforts of the Xavierians and Ex-Xaverians.
A village that was neglected over the years without basic
necessities like drinking water, electricity, lack of
sanitation, lack of proper school etc. can now boast of having
drinking water, electricity and more importantly a primary
school educating more than 250 children every year.
Today the social service department and the NSS has become an
indispensable part of an autonomous St. Xavier’s. “The youth has
a lot of energy in them which, if channelized in the proper
path, can bring about a lot of change in the society”, says Ms.
Cheryl Francis, the present director of social work & NSS, and
it is under her inspiring guidance that the NSS strives to mould
the young minds of the students and make them mature adults for
the society.
The NSS divides its work under two broad categories - Urban and
Rural. After the flagging of the autonomy in January 2006 the
NSS saw a number of new projects being added to both these
categories. The autonomy brought with it, the introduction of
credit system and inclusion of new departments, leading to an
overall increase in the number of ‘Xaverians’. Consequently, NSS
too witnessed a new record of more than a thousand students
registering. With more helping hands and immense enthusiasm of
the youth, we diversified our work further in both urban and
rural areas.
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Sadbhavana Diwas |
Various programme spread over 15 days from 20th
August 2007 to 3rd September 2007 was held on occasion of
Sadbhavana Diwas. The members of the team made a sincere
effort to spread the message of harmony, love and national
integrity. An All-Faith Prayer meet was conducted in
College. Street plays were held at Howrah and Sealdah
station. The programme concluded with the students
visiting an NGO on 3rd September. They interacted with the
children there and put up songs and dances to echo the
spirit of oneness.
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Lawrence de’
Souza Home |
The members of NSS have undertaken a
new venture to visit the Lawrence de Souza Home, a residential
accommodation for the aged ladies. Around 8-10 volunteers visit
the home every week and help with the daily chores. “ Oh! I
become so happy when I see you all”, says Patcy, one of the
inmates of the home. A volunteer once said, “Time just passes
by...We don’t even realize when 2 hours are gone and its time
for us to leave.”
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Indian
Institute of Cerebral Palsy |
A new mission was
established as the students of the Department of Social Work and NSS began daily visits to IICP. Around 40-45 volunteers visit
the venue both in the morning and afternoon in turns, and help
the children with their movement from their busses to their
class and back. Our volunteers are always ready with a smile to
help in any possible manner. Regular interaction reveals the
evergreen faith that blooms in the heart of the children.
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Networking with Kolkata Municipal Corporation |
Networking with Kolkata
Municipal Corporation to spread awareness on various
social issues in the slum areas especially on health and
sanitation.
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Sunday visits to Devipur and Raghavpur: |
We undertook the project to
teach the students of Devipur and Raghavpur every Sunday.
The student volunteers visit the village and spent two
hours teaching them. This new project has been very
successful as more than 150 students have visited these
villages as volunteers since August 2007.
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Prayas: |
Prayas is the project very dear to all of us at
Xavier’s. It is already redefining the lives of over 200
children spread over the villages of Gurap, Jhantipahari,
Paikhala, Devipur and Raghavpur. Students from the B.Com
and the BBA department donate Re 1 every day, which helps
in the funding of the education of these children. The
project also emphasizes on ‘Village to College and College
to Village’ exchange. Nearly 210 students of our College
volunteered to go for camps at these villages. This
‘College to Village’ programme helped them interact with
the students and work to contribute towards their academic
and cultural upliftment. Also, more than 100 students from
the village spent three days in the College over the year
and involved themselves in various activities as a part of
the ‘Village to College’ programme.
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| With widened scope, our flowers of on-going projects on
the NSS tree bloomed further, to spread more fragrance of
love and affection amongst all. |
Blood Donation Camp: Each
year NSS organizes at least one Blood Donation Camp. The Blood
Donation Camp this year was held on 7th August, from 7:00 am to
5:00 pm. Students once again contributed towards saving and
sharing lives with the vein-to-vein connection. A record of 726
blood donors marked new heights of success.
Slum Development Project:
The NSS members kept up their hard work to guide and teach the
under-privileged children of the near-by slum areas for five
days a week. Emphasis is laid on English and Mathematics along
with other activities such as book-reading sessions. Their
efforts resulted in the total number of benefiting students,
going up to 83. An SDP volunteer, Rahul Gupta states, “ Teaching
these children is a learning experience for me too. I feel
encouraged after seeing the potential of these little kids.”
Paikhala: Our students have
continued their Sunday visits to Paikhala, to teach and interact
with the students there. Nearly 80 students have volunteered
enthusiastically to be a part of this mission. Woman’s Day was
celebrated at Paikhala on 11th March 2007. Through skits, songs
and dances, the students tried to highlight the importance of
women in today’s society. To boost the morale of all women
assembled, mothers whose children had shown remarkable
improvement in academics and self-discipline were awarded. Apart
from this, Independence Day and Children’s’ Day were also
celebrated in the village with combined efforts of all students.
Surveys: Various surveys and
opinion polls on current issues and those affecting the youth
were conducted by NSS. The few issues covered in the autonomy
era includes HIV/ AIDS, increasing number of Road Accidents in
Kolkata, Budget 2007, a survey on carbonated drinks as well as
one on the execution of Saddam Hussain. A detailed survey was
also conducted on Child Labour.
Seminars: NSS has long set
the trend for organizing various seminars in College to enhance
the knowledge base and make students more aware. Interactive
seminars on Right to Information Act, gender equality and HIV
Aids were held, where students participated enthusiastically.
Our bi-annual camps were organized with even greater force
and broader scope this year.
Summer camp: NSSers
participated in the summer camp held in collaboration with the
Mahila Samity of the village Devipur from the 17th to the 23rd
of June 2007. They undertook the task of teaching the children
from classes I to IX and conducted a door-to-door survey with a
set of questions in order to examine the social, economic and
political scenario there. An enriching experience on the whole,
the camp marked a journey from ignorance to awareness as the
campers witnessed the true face of rural India closely.
Puja camp: The Puja Camp was
held this year from 28th October 2007 to 5th November 2007 at
Adharmanik, (Baduria Municipality, District North 24 Parganas).
Adharmanik is home to the administrative office of Swanrivar, an
NGO working towards rural development. The 35 campers engaged
themselves in documentation of all the prominent places of
interest in the municipality. They also visited Beliakhala,
which is a flood-affected and one of the three most arsenic
prone villages of the world. Apart from this, a survey at the
village was conducted, case studies on Integrated Pest
Management and Kitchen Gardening prepared, and Learning
Materials for schools prepared, making the camp a fruitful
experience.
Through these projects NSS has endeavoured to make a difference
in the society. As rightly put forward by Aryaman Kejriwal, a
first year student, “ Here I found my true self. NSS has given
me my identity in this big College.” It is in NSS that students
discover and identify their role as a student, as a part of this
society and as a citizen of this country. NSS prepares us to
face the real world. Mohua Mondal, one of our active ex-students
summed up her emotions and said, “ It was the NSS experience
that gave me an edge over others when I was searching for my
job.” We as NSSers can boast and say that it is only and only
here that the vision and mission of the College ‘To create men
and women for others’ is materialized. NSS thus, has undoubtedly
carved a niche for itself amidst the larger ‘Xaverian’ family.
The department functions by a group of 14 students belonging to
various department who form the NSS Board and who have a
one-year term. The current President of NSS is Aryaman Kejriwal
from B.Com (evening). This board functions under the guidance of
Ms. Cheryl Francis, the director of the department.
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