Project Students Education and Entrepreneurship Development (SEED): A move towards making Indian youth better

Project Students Education and Entrepreneurship Development (SEED) embarked upon year 1997 seeks to support student beneficiaries from malnutrition and poverty hit tribal areas of Melghat in Amravati district and Dahanu/Jawhar block of Thane (former Palghar) district of Maharashtra at the BJS established Wagholi Educational Rehabilitation Centre (WERC) in Pune. For long, tribal regions in India have been the foreground for socio economic backwardness. Despite the several measures to bring about a change in the lives of tribal population, the problems have continued to persist. 

BJS realized that a long term, consistent, and systematic approach is what is required to resolve the unflinching crisis. This program offers to bring about a change in the tribal regions through educating their children. The overall goal of the project is to educate and capacitate the children of tribal regions to transform them to become the 'change agents' of their own community. It will be a long time taking process, but the beginning of this change shall start with mainstream school education of the children of these regions.

The project is thus conceived with dual aim of providing children with appropriate opportunity and facilitating them to pursue education (from standard V onwards) and secondly, empowering them as self-sustaining citizens capable of contributing to holistic development of their own community.

From the time of commencement of this project every year a group of students are selected for standard V. After transferring them to BJS WERC they are enrolled for free of cost education at BJS Wagholi. The program undertakes a set of planned and structured interventions that comprised provision of quality education and co-curricular development, enabling and hygienic boarding and lodging facilities, nutritious meals, medical assistance and insurance and healthy psychosocial environment. The BJS WERC is well equipped with infrastructure facilities, training staff and administrative systems to track and monitor the performance of each unit of the centre. 

Even though local schools are present in tribal regions, BJS decided to adopt a different approach to educate these children by shifting them to BJS WERC to provide the exposure advanced educational and social tools to strengthen their inherit abilities, build their confidence to make them realize that they are competent as other children. BJS WERC focuses in enrolling children from standard V onwards because experience shows children are better prepared to stay independently away from family after attaining a certain age. They also begin to understand the significance of education by this age.

Importance of Value-based Education

BJS is concentrating much on providing value based education to students and guide teachers to provide value education. The moral values present a true perspective of the development of any society or nation. They tell us to what extent a society or nation has developed itself. Values are virtues, ideals and qualities on which actions and beliefs are based. Values are guiding principles that shape our world outlook, attitudes and conduct. Values however are either innate or acquired. Innate values are our inborn divine virtues such as love, peace, happiness, mercy and compassion as well as the positive moral qualities such as respect, humility, tolerance, responsibility, cooperation, honesty and simplicity.

The main causes of moral degeneration are:

- Lack of respect for the sanctity of human life.

- Breakdown of parental control of children in families

- Lack of respect for authority

-Total disregard for rules and regulations

- Crime and corruption

- Abuse of alcohol and drugs

- Abuse of women and children, and other vulnerable members of society.

- Lack of respect for other people and property

- Inadequate living and social conditions like lack of proper education

To solve all these type problems, it is necessary to know the main causes of the above problems. We know today’s children are tomorrow's citizens. If we give good education to the present day children, the future of the next generations will be good. For BJS, education is the solution for all types of these problems. Now we are living in the modern century. If we use science and technology in the proper way, it is not difficult for us to solve all the problems of the non-moral and value things. The main object of the study is to inculcate moral and value based education in schools and colleges and to know the attitude of intermediate students towards moral values.

BJS brought 200 children from farmer suicide affected families of Marathwada to WERC, Pune for educational rehabilitation.

In the month of November, Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana (BJS) conducted survey in 434 farmer suicide affected families of  Beed, Latur and Osmanabad districts of marathwada region and brought 120 children to WERC, Pune.  And on 2nd December 2015, 80 students have been brought, after conducting survey in 350 families in remaining five districts of Marathwada namely, Aurangabad, Jalna, parbhani, Hingoli and Naded. In this manner, the two phases of survey have been conducted and children have been brought successfully to Pune for their educational rehabilitation. BJS have taken up the complete responsibility of these students from entire parts of Marathwada for giving them free education.

These children have started the new life with the new school in Pune.  Along with quality education, BJS is giving every opportunity for their growth such as nutritious food, regular health checkups, games, sports, arts and all other extracurricular activities and computer training. BJS have formed a Mental Health Department for WERC students under the leadership and guidance of the well known psychologist Dr. Kinjal Goyal. This is going to be the great help for monitoring the mental health of each and every student of WERC. 

 

In this way, BJS is trying to handle this project of education rehabilitation of farmer suicide affected students, giving importance to each and every aspect. These students from all remaining districts of Marathwada have come BJS WERC today, 2^nd of December after the meeting and farewell at their respective districts on the previous day. These children have started their daily school routine at WERC.