Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
Multi-Tasking Experts
Village Resource Centre at KalpettaAbdul Kalam's vision of Village Resource Centres, which would enrich the lives of rural people by giving them connectivity and information resources, is slowly bearing fruit in the Wayanad. Established in 2003, the Centre has evolved and refined its mission over time and now focuses on educational opportunities, career information and counseling, facilitating health care, improving lifestyles through healthy living and supporting agricultural development. The VRC is housed on the premises of the Amrita Kripa Charitable Hospital in Kalpetta (KAKCH).
Since 2008, the Centre has offered free computer classes in Microsoft Office Suite and Internet Browsing. The Centre also offers workshops and lectures in wellness issues such as alcoholism and tobacco use to school and community groups. Farmers are supplied with up-to-date agricultural information. The Centre is also used for telemedicine conferencing for patients of the Kalpetta Amrita Kripa Charitable Hospital. The two young men running the VCR, Sujith and his assistant Mukundan are very busy people.
Sunith is in charge of teaching the computer classes. He says that his students are committed, disciplined and punctual. They are interested learning computer skills and work hard. The students are very happy to come and take advantage of the free courses and get a career boost.
The majority of computer students are Adivasis with a sprinkling of middle class students. The students are attracted to join because, unlike many other courses, each student has a personal computer, and because of the good reputation of the course. The Adivasi students are usually quite poor and are facing a lot of family problems. VRC tries to offer a wholistic approach to their computer education and gives them guidance on how to apply for higher studies, make use of any government grants for their group, and help them with any school project work.
Dilna M.K., age 20, heard good feedback about the program from a neighbor and decided to take the course. She likes this course because it gives the students more time to work on the computer than other courses. She already is feeling confident about her abilities on the computer and says she is learning a lot from her strict and well-informed teacher.
Another student, Vipina, commutes 3 hours roundtrip to take the course. Her mother found out about the course when she was visiting the hospital. Vipina would like a career in animation and is starting with the VRC course as a first step. Like many of the students she has ideas about a career, but is vague about how she will implement those goals.
The VRC helps students like Vipina with career counseling and guidance. Taking advantage of the proximity of the hospital, the students also get the added value of information about healthy lifestyles and health issues. Sixty-nine students have completed the course so far and another14 are taking the course currently(December, 2010).
The VRC recently launched another exciting project. They are facilitators with KAKCH to create a plan to launch a wholistic approach to improving the lives and the health of a nearby Adivasi community. The idea is to try to intervene before health problems become severe by offering information on healthy diet, lifestyle and by uplifting the community by improving education and employment opportunities. This could provide a model for other communities. This small Centre is a good example of how to make a big difference in people's lives using minimum resources.