A wonderful transformation took place in a village in which our university students from the department of social work and student volunteers from University College Dublin jointly carried out a social outreach program. The main objective of the program was renovation of the anganwadi centre (rural child care centre): providing a new roof for the shelter, plastering and painting the walls with pictures appealing to the children, cementing the floor and renovating the toilets. In this process, the students involved the men folk from the village. That is how the transformation took place.

As in many parts of North East India, a village can have more than one ethnic community, each with its own language and culture. In this village of our intervention, there were predominantly two communities: Adivasis and Boros. The people of these two communities were not united, not even talking to each other; instead there was a strained relationship. There is only one Anganwadi centre in this village. Our student volunteers involved the men of this village in the renovation of the anganwadi centre, in the planning and execution of the work of renovation. The students from University College Dublin provided the financial support. The entire village came together for this project because it was meant for the welfare of their children. They united together for the good of their children. More than providing a renovated anganwadi centre, we united the communities of this village. There was joyous celebration at the handing over function.

A part of our university mission is moulding graduates who make a difference to the society, by making them aware that they belong to a privileged section (less than 5%) of India’s population who have had the fortune of graduating with a degree, and hence they have a responsibility to the 95% of the people of our country who did not have that good fortune. Making our graduates committed to the society’s welfare is the crying need of our education system. The value of social commitment must be inculcated into our graduates as a universal human value.

Our government is also seeing the need for such an objective in our education system. The importance given to NSS, Unnad Bharat Abhiyan, Swatchtha Pakhwada, mandatory requirement of 200 hours of community outreach by every student of engineering, etc. confirm the importance given to social commitment by our government. It is time that the importance given to social commitment and the tangible results achieved therefrom become a parameter for assessing the quality of a higher education institution.

Assam Don Bosco University considers Social Commitment as its institutional distinctiveness, serving as an Identity Badge for every student who has graduated from it. To realize this objective, a social commitment activity must become institutionalized, enduring and engaging continuously all our alumni for a long time. Our alumni association has agreed to a proposal to support the running expenses of a free residential school (no tuition fees, no hostel fees, no mess fees, no book fees) for the poor children of the North Eastern part of our country as a sign of living up to the value of social committment that they have imbibed while they were in the university. This project involves three main stakeholders.

1. Assam Don Bosco University that will provide the land and implement the project

2. One or more corporate houses that will provide CSR funds for creating the infrastructure for this residential school

3. Alumni of Assam Don Bosco University that will guarantee the sustainability of this project

The students admitted to this school should have: (i) passed class 5 despite their poverty, (ii) a desire to study and (iii) some ability to study. The school will have classes 6 to 10, and 11 and 12; first year after admission will be utilised for learning English, which will become the medium of instruction for the remaining years (classes 6 to 12). 5000 alumni will contribute Rs. 500 monthly to sponsor the running expenses of this school of approximately 500 students.