Leaders of change

Updated on: Monday, September 06, 2010

It’s a story that is bound to inspire hope. Students in Delhi are busy doing their bit to clean up the Yamuna river, ahead of the Commonwealth Games — planting saplings along its banks and holding workshops and street plays to get people enthused about participating in the clean up drive. A large number of students from Delhi University (DU), Jamia Millia Islamia and other institutes launched a campaign called ‘Walk for the Yamuna’. In another town, in another place, students are working on educating their fellow brethren about the hazards of smoking. Students’ Working against Tobacco (SWAT) is an initiative by the students of EMDI Institute of Media and Communication, Bangalore. SWAT has come out with many successful awareness campaigns, awareness marches etc. The students say that theirs is not an anti-smoking campaign.

Their target audience is in the age group of 13- 25 — the time when temptation first steps in.

At Christ University, Bangalore, students from the Centre for Social Action (CSA) are working to develop communities, directly and indirectly — in whatever little ways possible. CSA offers four programmes which students can opt to be part of like the Activity Centre that comprises of a group of volunteers who teach underprivileged students in Rajendranagar. The CSA Street Theatre team, Drishti, produces and performs street plays to create an awareness on various social issues, inside and outside campus. Yet another group, Samveditha, takes interactive activity-based sessions in schools and colleges to make students socially sensitive on chosen issues.

Yes, students are now in the forefront of change — working at the grassroots level to transform the country and its people.

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Leaders of change

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