Date:05/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/05/stories/2008120557640200.htm

Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi

Winning laurels

Staff Reporter

Rita awarded Best NSS Programme Officer

Honouring Service: Rita Shantha Kumari of Cauvery College for Women receives the State NSS Award from Minister for Youth affairs and Sports T. P.M. Maideen Khan in Chennai.

TIRUCHI: Rita Shantha Kumari, English Lecturer of Cauvery College for Women has been honoured with the State Award for Best NSS Programme Officer for 2007-08.

Ms. Rita is one among ten NSS Programme Officers in the entire State and the only person in the jurisdiction of Bharathidasan University to receive the award.

State Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports T. P. M. Maideen Khan honoured Ms. Rita with the award in the presence of Youth Officer Sajjith Babu and the State Coordinator of NSS Nalini Ravindran.

Ms. Rita took up a project to teach through NSS volunteers English, Mathematics and Science to street children and drop outs who are being cared for under the aegis of CHEERS (Child Labour Elimination and Effective Rehabilitation Society) for two days in a week.

Another project was the conduct of a 10-day special camp to teach basic English to rural kids in the villages of Amoor and Thaneerpandal.

NSS volunteer award

The College also accounts for a best NSS Volunteer awardee, Preethi Priyadarshini, a third year student in the Bachelor of Social Work programme.

The State awards provide unique honour to the college, according to the Principal V. Sujatha.

That the College management actively supports the NSS movement could be gauged from its creation of five NSS units.

The Bharathidasan University that holds the distinction of having the highest number of NSS volunteers 27,800 has been getting State-level awards consistently every year. Last year, there were four awardees comprising one programme officer and three volunteers, said K. Kanagarasu, NSS Coordinator, Bharathidasan University.

The four best volunteers of the university are among 20 in the State to receive the honour this year.

Besides Ms. Preethi Priyadarshini, the other three are Ganesh Kumar, a second-year B.A. Tamil student of Periyar E.V.R. College; and M. Venkatesan, a third-year Computer Science student and S. Anbu Kumar, a first-year PG student of Social Work, both from Bishop Heber College.

The Vice-Chancellor M. Ponnavaikko felicitated Ms. Rita and the student volunteers and appreciated them for adding to the pride of the university with their achievements.