Introduction

   The primary motto of any educational institution is invariably the upliftment of the society through education and Mahendra Arts & Science College is no exception to this. The very location of our institution is highly significant, as the institution aims at empowering the rural youth through quality education that fosters in the students the skills required for facing the future and leading the society forward. The institution leaves no stone unturned and pulls out all the scenters to ensure that the student community gets the kind of education that builds in them confidence and life skills

Background

   Education is not confined to the four walls of the classroom; of course much more of it is outside the classroom. It is not mere instruction that defines education. It is and it should be man-making. Students need great exposure to the outside world. The institution should pave for such kind of education. Our institution is well-aligned with this concept and hence students are facilitated with outreach programmes throughout the year. The degree that the institution offers is not a physical certificate but an endorsement of the student’s readiness to face the outer world. The students enter the campus as just +2 passed students and exit as responsible citizens of the society.
   The institution is very keen on organizing various community-related activities and creating awareness about education, culture, responsibility, health, and the environment by organizing outreach and extension activities in collaboration with Government and Non-Governmental organizations to the public. More than 119 extension activities and 40 seminars were organized over the last five years.

Rural background of students

   Most of the students admitted in to the institution are from the rural pockets of Salem and Namakkal districts. They are not exposed to English Communication, as they did their schooling in Tamil medium schools. It’s a marathon task that the faculty has to face and they put Himalayan efforts to teach them communication skills. Moreover, they are hailing from very humble backgrounds with meagerincome. They are not only backward socially but also economically. Students need monetary support too for continuing their education. Hence the institution, besides getting governmental scholarships and private industry scholarship, constituted management scholarships to the needy on the meritorious ground. Apart from the governmental and private firm scholarship, the institutional scholarship to the tune of Rs.54,29,200/- (Fifty Four Lakhs Twenty Nine Thousand Two Hundred only) in the past five years, 2016-17 to 2020-2021. A total of 1,348 students were benefitted. Prominent sports persons are given concession in their tuition fee. The institution extends a helping hand to the underprivileged youth in order to raise the standard of their life.

   The institution helps students in extending fee waivers and fee concession of different types. While students with poor affordability are given concession in their tuition fee, the management extends fee concession in the college fee to the students with single parent. Students who complete their schooling in our sister institutions are given Mahendra Matric Scholarship. To help students earn while studying, the students are given incentive for the new admissions they bring in. The staff of our institution enjoys fee concession for their children studying in our Mahendra schools.

   The Management awards scholarship under different categories to the students of the institution using various academic and economic parameters. The various categories are:

• Mahendra Matric Scholarship Scheme
• Learn and Earn Scholarship
• Scholarship for Parent-less students
• Student Higher Education Scholarship
• Economically Poor Student Scholarship

Community Initiative

   The institution by and large has to be closely connected with the community for rendering service and creating awareness about various things. The institution is replete with many clubs which are doing community service throughout the year. The NSS wing is regularly doing village adoption programme in the surrounding villages. The programme is an eye opener to the students in more than one way; it inculcates a sense of social responsibility and also provides a good platform for working in groups. The YRC too complements the service done by NSS. NSS students are engaged in crowd regulation-a crowd of more than one lakhs- and temple campus cleaning activity in the nearby temple every year during the car festival which is celebrated over a fortnight. In recognition of the service at the temple, the institution was awarded a certificate of appreciation from the District Police Office. The club activities include awareness programmes about Emancipation and Empowerment of Women, Save Girl Child, Plastic Menace, Road Safety, Aids Awareness, Covid 19, Blood donation and so on. The institution creates public awareness through rallies and Invited talks too. Girl children were given awareness about the ‘Kaavalan SOS App” which is exclusively launched by the Police department for the safety of girl children. The outreach programmes sensitize the students about their contribution to the community.

Extended service to the local community

   The Institution donates every year a considerable amount to the visually-challenged people. The unskilled labourers in the nearby villages are given employment opportunity in the college.

Response to emergent situations

   The institution remains very responsive to natural calamities and other unforeseen situations. It is open to any kind of relief to victims of the calamities. Relief materials were sent to Kerala for helping the 2018 Kerala flood victims. The institution offered over 250 steel cots to Quarantine Centres for the Covid patients and a huge block, the Commerce block was made ready for constituting Quarantine centre, responding to the District administration.

Testimonial for Success

   The NSS students of the institution played a major role in organizing the following activities. Youth Awakening Day Rally and Eye-Donation Awareness Rally were conducted by the NSS students on 16th October 2017 and July 27th 2016 respectively. Camping activity on Dental Awareness (11th August 2016), Blood group Testing (10th march 2017) and Dengue Awareness (8th& 9th of August 2017) were successfully carried out. Blood Donation was conducted on 28th November 2016 and on 21st November 2017 with 135 units of blood being donated from the latter camp. An Eye check-up camp was organized on 11th January 2017 and over 2200 commons were benefited. Road & safety Awareness Rally was conducted on 11th October 2017. Alagappanpalayam, a village nearby was adopted by the NSS students for a week, from 12th February to 18th February 2018. Another camp on HIV Awareness was conducted on 1st December 2017.

Special Internship Program

   Special Internship Program for the students of B.Sc., Botany of Sri Saradha College for Women’s (Autonomous), Salem. 19.11.2018 to 30.11.2018. 25 students participated and benefited.

   During 2019-2020, the virtual internship program on “Techniques in Biotechnology” was conducted for B.Sc., Botany of Sri Saradha College for Women (Autonomous)- from 19-11-2018 to 30-11-2018. Totally 36 students participated and benefited.

Challenges Faced

   In the village adoption programme, initially the public was not convinced about the service, however, subsequently, the students were appreciated. The last day programme was participated by the village Panchayat officials and the former VC of Periyar University. People had mythical ideas about eye and blood donation and the turn-out was scanty. However, many villagers were convinced about both at the end. Dental awareness was very poor among the public. The students had to make them understand the importance of dental care. People were highly hesitant about blood group testing. The myths surrounding these donations were resolved by the campers.