On International Art of Giving Day, TLI has an exclusive interview of the man who ideated Art of Giving
Today is the International Art of Giving Day. ââArt of Givingââ is an idea conceptualized by Dr Achyuta Samanta, the founder of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) and Kalinga Institute of of Social Science (KISS). He has been providing free education to over 25,000 tribal students. Art of Giving is primarily focused on education, where students from every backgrounds, religions and caste are provided education. The Art of Giving day is celebrated over 120 countries across the world, where children are provided free books and copies. We urge every Indian to participate in this event by providing anything to a child. It can be a stationery item like a pencil. Let us celebrate the joy of giving.
The man behind the Art of Giving, Dr Achyuta Samanta has been an ordinary man with an extraordinary visionary, a true hero for the tribal community of Odisha. For the last 23 years he has worked hard relentless to provide a better platform for the deprived sections. Dr. Samanta is working towards a visionary of a world free from hunger, poverty, illiteracy and ignorance. His work has received huge appreciation in India and abroad and he has been bestowed with many national and international awards like Jawaharlal Nehru Award in 2012, Highest Civilian award of the kingdom of Bahrain in 2015 and much more.
In an exclusive interview with The Logical Indian, he share his experiences and perspective on education and society.
You vision is to ensure poverty does not stand in the way of oneâs education, how much have succeeded? What are the challenges faced?
I started Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences as a sustainable model to ensure education for the most deprived segment of the population, the tribal. What started modestly in 1992 has grown into a mammoth institute today with 25,000 poorest-of-the-poor tribal receiving fully free holistic education from KG to PG along with free lodging, boarding, clothing and all other necessary amenities for all round development. Besides curricular education they are receiving vocational education and life skills training in order to grow up as fully empowered citizens.
The institute has been successful in spreading economic empowerment and awareness among this community to taking education seriously. KISS has affected the lives of over a million people now. The KISS model is being emulated for other deprived and underprivileged communities too.
The biggest challenge we face today is funding creation of replicas of KISS to touch lives of millions of children still lying outside the realm of education.
Yourself, you have come a long way in your life from humble beginnings, what are the values you embody ? and please give a gist of your journey till present day. Firstly, I believe that half education is far more dangerous than no education. Half-cooked knowledge really does not empower. Moreover, all are not born with similar talents. So, every child must get an opportunity to know his/her talents and educational institutes must provide opportunities for holistic learning.
KISS uniquely blends vocational training, sports, and other extracurricular learning along with curricular studies. Result is for everybody to see as our children are not only making it to top national institutes for higher professional education on their own merit but also are making it to the World Olympics and other national and International sporting events; they are participating in various social programmes at national and international levels. Recently they have bagged two Guinness World Records too.
At KISS we lay great emphasis on girl child education. At KISS, 60% of the student community comprise of girl children. By educating and economically empowering girl children we are ensuring education for generations thereafter besides ensuring proper healthcare and skills development in their homes.
The third important philosophy is to provide a stimulating academic and enabling vibrant infrastructure so that these first generation learners stay stimulated and inspired towards holistic education, and progressive thinking. Our innovative Earn-while-you-learn has been able to arrest dropout to zero level and has a restrictive effect on the tribal children joining insurgent camps.
What is your assessment of the education system of India, where does it need improvement? Are the marginalized getting equal opportunity to quality education? Indiaâs education system is one of the worldâs oldest and largest and has been successfully contributing to the national and global knowledge pool. However, its impact in the rural areas and less privileged communities is not adequate due to various factors including lack of enabling environment and social, cultural and economic imbalances. We need to address these issues on top priority in order to attain the Sustainable Development Goals
The mar…
