Structure
The program is organized on Saturday afternoonswith an average frequency of two a month during the academic term. Since the program is a volunteer-driven, volunteers are recruited each week and the class representatives help Prof. Shobhana collect the names of volunteers ahead of time. Under the Amrita system, the students need formal permission to leave the campus premises, so the hostel wardens are sent a list of names a day in advance. Around 20 to 30 ASB volunteers participate in tutoring the village children. Around 60 children from the village participate on a regular basis in the program. The village is located around 2.5kilometers from the campus, and the students and Prof. Shobhana walk to the village.
Mission
The outreach program focuses on engaging and interacting with school-going children and tutoring them. Another objective is to motivate the village children to stay in school because the village has a high drop-out rate because of poverty and illiteracy among parents, and alcoholism among several of the male parents. Personal hygiene is another focus area since the homes in the village do not have toilets. Instead the children use public toilets.
Vision
This mission of ASB has highlighted the importance of how the MBA program focuses on societal benefit and engagement with key stakeholders. A key stakeholder for ASB is the rural community living on the outskirts of the campus. The poorest village in the immediate environs is the Dr. Ambedkar Colony. The residents of the village belong to the Dalit community and typically work in low income and low status jobs such as cleaning toilets and clearing garbage. Several residents of the village work as cleaning staff in Amrita University including in ASB. Prof. Shobhana Madhavan joined ASB in 2004 with several years of community development experience in Africa and Asia. In 2005, she initiated the village outreach program for ASB and selected Dr. Ambedkar village for the outreach program to focus on helping the most disadvantaged community in the neighborhood.
DR.DEEPAK GUPTA AND DR.SHOBHANA MADHAVAN
Founders
ASB faculty members Shobhana Madhavan and Deepak Gupta provide material support to the government run pre-school in the Ettimadai village. The children from the pre-school participate in the ASB outreach program.
MR.S.P Venkatesh
DR.Johnsy
DR.kanagaraj
DR.Sathishkumar
Supporters
S. P. Venkatesh and Saktikumar (Batch of 2008) raised around Rs. 30000 rupees in 2008 from their MBAcohorts to build a shed for tutoring the village children. This contribution was matched by the Local Panchayat (local governing body) who helped to make a cement concrete platform around the shed. The village children and volunteers use the shed and platform to sit on. This structure is also used for local festivals by the village community.
Former MSW students and current staff ( Satishkumar and S.Kanagaraj) offer their support and advice for the outreach program and the Diwali Party. Dr. JanciBala from the Students Welfare Department helps to organize the Diwali party each year.
Arunji
Dr.Banerji
Mrs.Jayalakshmi
Mr.Anup Menon
Mr.Anirudh
Mr.Inba Rajan S
Mr.UdhayaKumar
When the outreach program began, there was not even one girl in the village who had entered university after finishing high school. Most girls were married off at 16 (underage) and were young mothers by the time they were 18. With encouragement from ASB student, the situation has changed over the years. For example, in 2019 there are currently around five girls who have graduated from university and another ten girls are currently enrolled in university. The girls benefit if they enroll in government colleges or government aided colleges since they belong to a scheduled caste and do not have to pay fees. A few needy students have been supported by contributions from Prof. Shobhana, Prof. Deepak Gupta and ASB alumni.
In June 2019, A. Muthukumar, who has been a student in the village program since 2005 and is now studying engineering in a local college secured an internship in a startup MetaRays in Bangalore. MetaRays was founded by an ASE student volunteerS.Inbarajan. This was the first time that any student from the village had interned in Bangalore city.
Several alumni who were active volunteers in the outreach program report that the program built skills that enabled them to take a leading role in CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility ) programs run by their employers. For example, Amit Anand (Batch of 2011) has taken a leadership role in the CSR activities in Tata Consultancy Service Pune. Some other ASB graduates such as Ramesh Meeniga (Batch of 2017) and Durga G. (Batch of 2019) report similar experiences.
The outreach program provides an opportunity for alumni and current students to form strong bonds. Volunteering together appears to cement long-term relationships that can even extend to business. An alumnus and former volunteer who has set up his own enterprise reported how another former volunteer helped him get some clients for his startup
a recent (2019) alumni feedback survey, the village outreach program has been reported as being one of the most memorable and learning experiences for several of the alumni. As evidenced by the alumni participation in the outreach program and their employers’ CSR program the impact of this program stretches beyond the two years of the MBA. The program PROGRAMME JANUARY 2015 was founded with the objective of helping disadvantaged children but the impact of the program in inculcating values such as a spirit of service and a sensitivity to the lives of the poor in ASB students has been equally valuable.