The Hindu : Front Page : The making of India’s first potential tribal university

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 08, 2007
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The making of India’s first potential tribal university

Rasheed Kappan

Ninety per cent of its students clear Plus Two and one won a top science prize

— FILE PHOTO: ASHOKE CHAKRABARTY

EMPOWERMENT: Girls from Jagatsingpur at KISS for vocational training in dress making.

BHUBANESWAR: Five thousand tribal children, a sprawling campus, free food, housing and education —formal and vocational — and a hi-tech deemed University next door. This is India’s first tribal University in the making, the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) to be precise, a vision realised in Bhubaneswar, a dream nurtured by philanthropist Achyutananda Samanta.

Plucked out of the neglected, inaccessible and remote tribal backyard of Orissa, the boys and girls are part of a project launched with only 100 children on April 1, 1993. A sister concern of the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), KISS is a working dream that trained the tribal children to be self-reliant, resourceful and empowered to tackle the challenges of life.

For the visiting media team from Bangalore, KISS was an education in looking beyond urban-centric development. From the well-stocked library, hostel and computer centre to a medical facility that insured every child, KISS is also a home away from home. The institute ensures that the children have enough exposure to their tribal culture, heritage and tradition.

KG to PG

Music, meditation and mentoring merged with sports, picnics and festivals to round off an invigorating mix of learning and fun. For the once deprived tribal children, the road from KG to PG is meticulously laid.

The KISS curriculum takes them up from primary to higher secondary, Plus Two to Bachelor of Business Administration and beyond, to post-graduation.

If ITI diploma courses are for average students, high school pass outs can opt for driving, TV repairing, mobile phone repair or tailoring

Varied careers

The KISS Polyvalent Vocational Training Centre ensures they could even find their place in food preservation or canning. From poultry, sheep and goat rearing to pisciculture, dairy farm and agriculture, livelihood projects await them too.

For Dr. Samanta, the man behind it all, their happy faces are proof of a dream realised. “After 60 years of Independence, the tribal people were still living in forests. It was my dream to change that in a small way. Today, there are children here from most of the 52 tribes of Orissa, including 13 primitive tribes. This year, we added 700 more tribal children to reach the strength of 5,000,” he informed.

Taste of success

Dr. Samanta’s faith in their abilities was fully reinforced when every KISS student who took the State Board examination passed. Ninety per cent cleared the Plus Two examinations, a performance far ahead of the State average of 59 per cent.

“Even the dropout rate is zero. Every summer vacation they go home, and everyone returns.”

Proving their mettle beyond the classroom, the Institute students topped the National Children’s Science Congress last year, an event for which former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam visited the KISS campus. Sixteen-year-old Manoj Kumar Garuda won the top Science prize for his work on harnessing water. Mr. Kalam wanted him to dream big and don a scientist’s garb.

Free seats

For 22 of the brightest from KISS students, Dr. Samanta had reserved free engineering seats in KIIT, five per cent of the total intake.

“This year, the BCA and BBM courses were opened for them. The tribal students will leave this organisation with a job.” As the KIIT Deemed University Chancellor assured this, he was working on an expansion plan: a project to add another 5,000 children to India’s biggest residential tribal school in the next three years.

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