Government Mahakoshal Arts and Commerce College in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Source: College Website
Students of Government Mahakoshal Arts and Commerce College in Jabalpur have turned into cleanliness monitors, acting as interns for the Jabalpur Municipal Corporation (JMC).
The internship on community engagement — a first in Madhya Pradesh — is in keeping with the recommendations of the new National Education Policy (NEP).
Sixty first-year students of Arts, Commerce and Business Administration signed up for the internship on cleanliness at JMC. “The community engagement will enable students to understand ground realities like education, health, agriculture, livelihood of labourers etc during field study," said professor Arun Shukla, regional coordinator of the Swami Vivekananda Career and Guidance Centre at the college.
The internship carries 50 marks, Shukla said.
“The college decided that the students should take up an internship on cleanliness, a health issue. Students are being given basic communication training on how to interact with residents, and have been handed a proforma to gather details about cleanliness in the municipal wards,” JMC assistant nodal officer Shailja Sullere said.
The students have been provided mobile phone numbers of the municipal ward supervisers and health inspectors and have been asked to click and send photographs of garbage to civic officials so that it can be cleared.
The students have also been given ID cards and bus passes to help them with the internship. They will have to submit a report on the status of cleanliness, mentioning what action they took on spotting garbage, she said.