Established in: 1996

Activities

• Vidhyadeep Community College
• Boarding
• Women’s Group

VIDHYADEEP COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Established in: 1996

Activities

Vocational Training focused on

• Work skills
• Life skills
• Job placement
• Outreach programmes

Courses

• Diploma in Office Administration Two years
• Computer Education and Functional English 1 year
• Nursing Assistant 1 year
• Home Science 1 year
• Advanced Tailoring 1 year

Add on courses

• Digital Marketing
• Pre-primary Teacher’s training
• Accounting and Tally
• Beauty culture

LOCATION OF THE TRIBAL BELT ON THE MAP FROM WHERE THE STUDENTS COME TO VIDHYADEEP

The students come from 11 civil districts of Gujarat State viz. Anand, Bharuch, Dangs, Panchmahal Dadra Nagar Haveli, Narmada, Navsari, Surat, Vadodara, Valsad and Sabarkanta.

THE FOUNDING ORGANISATION

Vidhyadeep Society belongs to the sisters of the Daughters of the Heart of Mary, a Roman Catholic international religious organization with its charism to work with the poor and the most disadvantaged people in the society. It is a sister institute of the Institute of Social Service, Nirmala Niketan, Bombay, which has been involved in developmental work for the past 70 years. Its two Colleges of Social Work, one in Bombay and the other in Mangalore, the College of Home Science and Polytechnic in Bombay and the College of Education in Goa, have done pioneering work in the education and development of the weaker sections, especially of women, through their programmes. In Gujarat it has 4 Community Development Centres: at Baroda, at Narukot, at Koth-Gangad, and at Vattaman having outreach work in several villages. Vidhyadeep Society is a Charitable Trust, registered under the Societies Registration Act 1960 and Mumbai Public Trust Act. The Trust does not carry on any activity whatsoever with profit as an object. Its activities are mainly educational, medical, agricultural and relief.

The present activities of the Vidhyadeep Society are empowerment of women of the weaker sections, outreach to the villages, empowerment of women of the local society and short-term language and computer classes for the local community. The main activity of the Vidhyadeep Society is Vidhyadeep Community College. The Vidhyadeep Community College was founded in 1996 to offer to women of the weaker sections, specially tribal women an education that is person-oriented, employment-oriented and community-oriented. This project was initiated by the Church in Baroda and was actualized by the members of Nirmala Samaj Kendra, Baroda. It is located at Bharuch, near the Gujarat Narmada Fertilizer Company, about 75 kms from Baroda. Over the past 28 years the Vidhyadeep Society has set up the required infrastructure on a 2 ½ acre plot of land. There is a Training Centre with classrooms and a hostel, which can accommodate 200 students. The Training Center is equipped with all the infrastructure required for the present courses.

The college has been set up with the help of the different funding agencies like, Manos Unidas, for the building, Meisenkai, Japan for the infrastructure and Charitas India for three years recurring expenditure of the college from 2002-2006, United Parcel Service, Mumbai for 2006-2007 and Alboan from 2009-2016. The fees collected from the students are minimum and it is enough only to meet only few expenses of the Institute.

At this point in its history, this kind of vocational education is appealing to tribal (indigenous) women who are seeking a job-oriented education. The syllabi and curricula are flexible and are tailored to respond to the needs of the trainees.

THE VISION OF VIDHYADEEP

Education for the Empowerment of Tribal Women

Aim:

• To include the excluded – the academically, economically and socially disadvantaged groups of society.
• To offer the best to the least.

To provide access for all who want skill-based education.

The main objective of the College is

Education for the Empowerment of Tribal Women through excellence in vocational skills.

The specific objectives of the College are as follows:

1. To enable women to become economically independent and self-reliant through need based educational programmes centred around vocational skills

2. To provide leadership training programmes to the women within the curriculum, and promote a sense of entrepreneurship among them.

3. To establish linkages with industry and to explore job openings for the women trained at the College.

4. To establish linkages with the rural and urban community and to build up the resources of the tribal community from which the students come.

THE UNIQUE ROLE OF VIDHYADEEP:

Vidhyadeep thus functions as a Nodal Centre for the whole of South and Central Gujarat and a few from North Gujarat which trains students from the villages primarily for improving the quality of life in their own villages. The focused objective is the same as that of the national policies of education, viz. to build integrated communities at the grassroots, where women will be empowered to participate in the developmental process, bringing their own needs, perspective and abilities to the forefront. The focused objective is to provide vocational skills, which are job-oriented, and income generating. The Vision of the College is to build up self-reliance, self-confidence, holistic growth and cultural identity of tribal women. It trains the students in Life Skills, Work Skills, On the Job Training and Outreach to the village community. A linkage has been made with 180 villages of 10 districts of Gujarat, from which tribal girls have come to Vidhyadeep. Many of the trained students have taken up jobs as computer operators, community animators, boarding caretakers, domestic workers and nursing assistants in hospitals. The NGOs are networking with Vidhyadeep in order to start co-operative units for income-generation and also to initiate some training programmes for women’s development in their own villages.

The Vision of the College is to build up self-reliance, self-confidence, holistic growth and cultural identity of tribal women. It trains the students in Life Skills, Work Skills, On the Job Training and Outreach to the village community. These capacities are inbuilt into the curriculum and are processed through all the training programmes. The College thus becomes a facilitator in the empowerment of women, through the process of education, training and outreach. In this way, Vidhyadeep occupies a unique position among the educational and developmental programmes.

Vidhyadeep network with many organizations for training, admissions, job placement, outreach and sustainability. Students give exam through National Skill Development programme of ICRDCE.

TEACHING LEARNING PROCESS

The main components of the Teaching Learning Process are Life Skills including Personality Development, Language and Communication, Work Skills, On the Job Training and Outreach and Extension to the villages.

The classroom activities include Theory and Practical classes. The class room activities are supplemented by various workshops and talks. On the job training and exposure visits give the students the first hand experience of what they learn in the classroom.

TEACHING AND NON-TEACHING STAFF

Names of Staff	Qualification	Faculty
Ms. Philomena Sequeira	M.A. BEd	President of the Trust
Dr. Magy Allessu	M. Phil, PhD	Principal / English/ Life Skills/counseling
Ms. Shaly Varghese	Home Science	Home Science Boarding warden
Ms. Diana D’Souza	M.A. BEd.	English/Counseling
Ms. Shaila Crasto	MSW and Counseling	Life skills/ Current Affairs, Environmental education
Ms. Sumitra Vasava	Diploma in Garment Making & Embroidery,	Tailoring
Ms. Pallavi Gamit	MA, Diploma in Office Administration, PGDCA	Office Administration, English, Computer
Ms. Dixita Chaudhary	BCom. Certificate course in Computer and English	Accountancy, computer
Ms. Kareena Gamit	B.A. ,Diploma in Office Administration	English, computer, General Knowledge
Ms. Jyoti Chaudhary	BA. Nursing Assistant course	Nursing
Ms. Rachana Gamit	Diploma in Office Administration	Computer and basic English
Ms. Violet Fernandes	BA. Pre-Primary Teacher’s Training	English and Pre-primary Teacher’s Training
Ms. Devila Vasava	Home Science	Boarding Assistant

• The courses are supplemented by workshops and sessions on various topics

Workshops

The following workshops are conducted for all the Courses to enrich the knowledge and skills of the students.

• Knowing the Self
• Personality Development
• Adivasi Identity and Culture
• Herbal medicine, Acupressure
• Agriculture, Organic Farming
• HIV/AIDS Awareness
• Legal Aid
• Right to Information
• Panchayati Raj and PESA
• Creative Handicraft
• Value Education
• Karate
• Yoga

Placement for Training

Over the past 28 years the college has been able to develop networking with Industries and other organizations for the job placement of the students. The Office Administration students are placed for 2 months in different offices and schools. The Nursing students are placed in different hospitals for 4 months. The following organizations are networking with Vidhyadeep for this purpose.

• Queen of Angels High School, Bharuch
• St. Xavier’s High School, Bharuch
• District Education Office, Bharuch
• Tiny Tots, Bharuch
• Zeel Hospital, Bharuch.
• Govardhan Hospital, Bharuch.
• Rose Hospital, Bharuch.
• Childcare Hospital, Bharuch.
• Prakruti Hospital, Bharuch.
• Nirmala Niketan, College of Home Science, Mumbai
• Nirmala Niketan, College of Social Work, Mumbai

EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

The extra curricular activities of the college aim at the all-round development of the students. Students come out with the best of their talents during these occasions and it is the forum where they learn to face the outsiders and grow in self-confidence and leadership. The group activities help them to interact with each other and learn to be open to the others. The Home Science Students display their talents during the exhibition and sale. The college celebrates Indigenous Day, Teacher’s day, Navrathri, Christmas, Parents’ Day, Women’s Day, Holi, and Annual Day.

OUTREACH

The Institute has a wider outreach to the villages through students and their families. Students are given projects during holidays to give awareness on different issues which are pertaining to the tribal people in the villages. The nursing students reach out to so many villages during their community health programme.

CAMPUS DEVELOPMENT

Agriculture and gardening are part of the curriculum. The field and garden are the practical ground for the students to learn to cultivate and generate food and medicine for the family. The different vegetables that we cultivate have substantiated the needs of the students for a more balanced diet to a great extent.

OUTCOME AND IMPACT OF THE PROJECT

At this juncture, it is worth to note that the students who are passed out from Vidhyadeep are making a difference in life and they are taking leadership in life and finding their own ways out to support themselves and their families.

The Impact of the training on students is the following:

• A growth in Self-Confidence as a result of the acquisition of skills and exposure to the city and to new experiences.
• Increased capacity building in leadership qualities. This is inbuilt in the daily life in the college and in the hostel. The students are given opportunities to take various responsibilities and learn from them.
• Empowerment through economic independence. This has been expressed by those who have completed the education and have found employment.
• Improvement in the standard of living of the family
• Improved health status and greater awareness of holistic health for the family and community.
• Increased women’s leadership in the family and village

Regarding the college, down the years the college has developed its credibility and now there is a great demand for the girls trained at Vidhyadeep.

• All our students come to Vidhyadeep without even Basic English background and within one year they are able to speak English well.
• Most of the students who completed Diploma in Office Administration Course have already got jobs. For the Nursing students also, they are placed in different hospitals during internship and most of them are absorbed by the same hospitals after their training.
• Most of the Tailoring students are stitching at home and some of them are working in textile industries. They are paid according to the work.
• The Nirmala Niketan College of Home Science, Mumbai give exchange programmes for all the students every year
• Apart from the training placement in the hospitals, the Nursing students have 10 days intensive training in Community Health in the villages that the exposure helps the students to give health awareness and education to the people many villages especially women and children.

CONCLUSION

Vidhyadeep was founded to give a job-oriented and skill-based education to the economically disadvantaged women, particularly tribal women from Gujarat. The main aim of Vidhyadeep is women’s empowerment and it is possible only through economic independence. During the last 28 years Vidhyadeep has been able to achieve this goal through the education which is person/community oriented, and job/skill oriented. Through the life-skill education, the students have grown in self-confidence and courage to face life. The Institute has established its credibility with the support and co-operation of rural and urban networking organizations, staff and students.