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News Update:

BEST PRACTICES

SANTHIGRAMAM

Objectives:

  1. Promotion of Livelihood opportunities for women youth and elderly living in our adopted Colony at Parakadu to make them independent and self reliant
  2. Supporting all Santhigirians to take an active role in practicing their civic responsibilities towards their fellow human beings and the environment
  3. Helping students, faculty and local people reflect on environmental and human rights issues
  4. Getting students to actively participate in environment protection and conservation activities in and around the college and their own neighborhood by collaborating with the local people
  5. Ensuring environment protection and sustainable living in Purapuzha grama panchayat where Santhigiri College is located

Context:

Santhigiri college has adopted a colony in Parakadavu of Thodupuzha Block Panchayath. We promote our concept of a village where people are self-reliant, independent and a community becoming more conscious about environment by changing their behavior and lifestyle to reduce the amount of pollution and waste generated at the source., we guarantee a "Green Campus" where ecologically responsible, sustainably minded behaviour is promoted through education . Through the idea of SanthiGramam, Santhigirians makes sure that every student can help the community by promoting sustainable and environmentally friendly gramam. Our motto is "Reimagine, Recreate, Restore.

Practice:

As part of ensuring Santhigramam

  1. The College collaborates with the Local Self Government Department, Community Health Centre, Anganwadis and Other local government projects such as Clean Kerala, Kerala Suchithwa Mission, Vayomithram,ICDS. Santhigiri has adopted Parakkadu Colony of Thodupuzha Municipality since 1999 with a population of 324 individuals .The students of our college actively involve in collaborating with these institution. They visit the houses of Parakadavu Colony (an adopted colony of Santhigiri) periodically for need assessment mainly focusing on environment protection.
  2. Students have been systematically promoted waste management at source NSS volunteers and MSW students were trained by the Clean Kerala Company (Government of Kerala) and Green Living School to deliver training sessions for the local villagers to use bio pots and segregating waste at source for recycling and reusing purposes. In order to develop a model for waste management, biopots have been distributed in the local community in collaboration with Purapuzha Grama Panchayat Administration and the residents were provided training. Ring bin bio pots were distributed to the residents of Parakadavu Colony for the disposal of solid waste and food waste. Follow up visits were conducted to support and encourage non users of the biopot to use the system.
  3. Santhigirians are involved in collaborating with the local self-government in cleaning the local river bodies by removing waste and debris from the local water bodies in a project called ‘ee puzha ozhukatte’.
  4. Students are actively participating in the green maintenance of the college campus. All the trees and plants that are in the campus have been planted by the students and faculty of the college. The herbal garden, fruit garden, spices garden and flower garden promotes sustainable availability of much needed herbs and fruits for the use of students and faculty alike
  5. Fruit Sapplings were distributed to Parakadavu Colony and beneficiaries and students both actively participate in planting trees in the colony premise

Problems encountered and resources requires:

Problems encountered

  1. Lack of participation from male beneficiaries.
  2. As the ring bins are given free of cost, the beneficiaries were not interested to utilize it fully in responsible manner.

Resources required:

1. Provide awareness classes for male beneficiaries to ensure the participation .

SANTHIMARGAM

Objectives of the Practice :

  1. To ensure holistic wellbeing of all Santhigirians equipping them to deal with the changing life style patterns and a true understanding of how reality and suffering are intertwined.
  2. To promote positive mental health among students and faculty to deal effectively with the stressful and challenging aspect and the aspiration to act with correct intention
  3. To promote healthy style activities to address the issues of life style diseases that is seen increasing among youth
  4. To ensure spiritual growth and development in line with the mission and vision of the College

The Context:

SANTHIMARGAM literally means way to peace. Santhigiri College with its vision of Awakening To The Future, Awake this generation to take up the challenges of tomorrow has adopted Santhimargam to achieve its Mission of Holistic and Integral Development of the Individual Rooted In Faith in God, Justice, Knowledge and Human Values. Six fold path is the way to Santhimargam which helps a person to understand how speech and mind can be tuned towards Integral development of an Individual. Santhigirians practice six fold path through holistic education, Faculty development Program, College Sports and Arts day, Santhigiri Gymnasium, Yoga and Meditation, SCOP and Community College to achieve its Mission. Santhimargam is practiced through Six Fold Path.

  1. Right View
  2. Right Resolve
  3. Right Speech
  4. Right Action
  5. Right Effort
  6. Right Mindfulness and Right Meditation

The Practices:

Six fold path is adopted to reach Santhimargam

Right View means taking responsibility for our world and our lives. For this Holistic education is incorporated into the co curriculum which helps the students build essential life skills especially coping with stress, emotions, and solving problems which take them forward for goal setting and creative thinking.

Right Resolve “Faculty development programme is conducted, twice a semester to ensure consistent quality in the classroom and promote their personal and professional development and to sensitize and motivate the faculty to adopt learner centered approaches, ICT integrated learning and new pedagogic approaches to teaching- learning, assessment tools .The programme is brought under the Santhimargam as it supports faculty for critical reflection and paves their way to better self-awareness and personal enrichment.

Right Speech is practiced through Holistic Education. Inter personal skills and societal skills are imparted in the students which helps them to improve communication and interpersonal skills, and lead to greater success in personal and professional life

Right Action .Students have to participate in College sports to increase confidence, mental alertness, and self-esteem and equip them to accept victory and failure.

Santhigiri Gymnasium gives students an opportunity to develop leadership skills and can influence moral development. Because it requires students to work together, it can build social skills and teamwork abilities. Gym also introduces students to goal-setting and can instill self-discipline.

Santhigiri Arts Day is conducted every year for five days in each academic year to develop and improve the innate talents capacities in literary works and traditional arts form and to give them a chance to showcase their hard work and inspiration.

Right Effort : Santhigiri College Outreach Program (SCOP) And Community College, the college provides extension under the banner SCOP. All the departments actively contribute to extension activities which aimed to improve the social responsibility and right effort of students. The program Pothichoru mission initiates to support the marginalised sector of the community. This is a community- based education program aimed at giving job-oriented courses to youth from the local communities.

Right Mindfulness and Right Meditation Every week at Santhigiri begins with a Yoga Session and Meditation which provides our students and staff with an opportunity to practice yoga which aim to relax the mind, in order to cultivate a deeper connection and understanding of mind and body

Evidence of success:

  1. Right View ,Right Effort and Right Action is practiced by Inclusion of differently abled students with other students which help them to be in the mainstream of the society and making sure everybody has the same opportunities to participate in every aspect of life to the best of their abilities and desire.
  2. The fundamental notion of Santhimargam is that the students are in an environment that allows for their holistic and integral development. Through six fold path (SANTHIMARGAM) students learn to care about the world around them and also learn to deal with the many challenges that come their way. Santhimargam entails empowerment, character education and spirituality, as it relates to the wellbeing of the individual, the community, and the environment. Success of Santhimargam is obviously seen in students that they became independent in framing their goals and preferences respecting social and cultural norms
  3. The success of SCOP and Community College is the result of community participation. Through SCOP and Community College Santhimargam is able to provide Right Resolve to marginalized people. Through Santhimargam our beneficiaries became self-reliant and independent.
  4. Better performance in Interviews and good placement records

Problems encountered

  1. While practising right mindfulness and right meditation aims to foster a deeper connection and knowledge of the mind and body, a minority of students exhibits reluctance to attend these classes, accusing their religious views.
  2. To transmit the Right View, the Holistic education programme should be reorganized after consulting with the students and taking into account their practical needs.
  3. Right Action is practiced through Sports ,Arts and Gymnasium but not in a position to ensure the whole hearted cooperation of students
  4. Right Speech :Through Holistic Education interpersonal skill and intrapersonal skill is being developed,students became more conscious about their human right rather than respecting the rights of others

Resources

Create awareness among the students on the effectiveness of the 6 fold paths to increase their voluntary participation.