Best Practices 1

Title of the Practice:

Making of Bio- degradable Plates from Sal Tree Leaves.

Objectives:

The above practise was initiated with the following objectives:

 *Acquainting the local villagers about the process of collecting proper Sal Tree leaves suitable for the purpose of  making  cheap and  good quality Bio- degradable Plates

*To make these people self- sufficient in identifying one of the most convenient ways of becoming economically independent within their own community.

*To enhance the bonding of Man and Nature by making the maximum usage of naturally obtained materials in this process.

* To empower the marginalised section of this area by making them eligible to impart their learned skills to their community and beyond.

The Context:

Our college is situated at a place surrounded by less-privileged people from the Santali and other tribal Communities which is full of adults without any formal education and first generation learners at the same time. They are however very close to their ancestral and indigenous mode of living due to which the idea of acquainting them with the technique of becoming economically engaged amidst their own natural surroundings through appeared a beneficial way of extending our support towards creating a pollution free environment with the use of local resources as much as possible.

The challenge however was to make these people believe in themselves and have faith in our intention of becoming a part in their progress. Language was a barrier as many of them could not gather the frequency of our standardised version of communication which was somehow managed by our students and representative teachers. 

The Practice :

A meeting was organised and resolutions were adopted regarding the way in which the practise of making Bio- Degradable Plates from Sal Tree Leaves would be carried out within a scheduled period in the academic session of 2017- 2018. The practise of making plates from Sal Tree Leaves was carried out in the following manner:

 *A detailed plan with the possible outcomes was chalked out prior to the visits to suitable rural sites for the purpose.

*A group of teachers, non teaching staff members and representative teachers from our NSS team was consulted about the detailed plan of action for this practise.

*Most importantly, the teachers and students of the Santali Department of our College took an active part in this project to reduce the linguistic barrier arising with this project.

*An expert regarding this purpose was invited to give an orientation to them and all the above members were also present on this day of demonstration.

*In order to collect the raw materials for this project, dates were fixed for gathering best quality Sal Tree leaves for this purpose.

*Cleaning, Washing , Sewing of the leaves was done manually by the villagers before sending the sewed plates inside the Compression machine to give a proper shape to the plates for making them usable by all.

*After the plates were made, packaging was conducted with great care before the finished products could be send to the market.

*This practise helped in recapitulating the self help motive for the rural and marginalised section of the tribal society surrounding our college.

*This practise became one of the ways of projecting an all- inclusive nature of the College as an institution of higher education.

*The limitation associated with this project was regarding the availability of finance to support the cost of the machine which was however financed as a gift to us.

Evidence of Success:

A number of self financed small business set ups were established by the young learners who were able to master the job for their own need. This ensured a better life of survival for their families and their communities in future. A feeling of confidence and self- worth became an important part of their lives.

The results indicated the positive outcome of a joint initiative between the College authorities and local residents of the place. It helped in clearing the pre-existing barriers between the highly educated staff members of the College and the poorly educated rural residents existing in the peripheral section of our College.

Problems encountered and resources required :

Most of the Trainees were inefficient in the handling of the machine because it was obviously a risky job. For this we needed more time and perseverance with the trainees. Being naturally repulsive of technological aids, many people from the tribal community was reluctant to handle the machine from the beginning.

Resources were required to supply food and refreshments for the trainees in the long hours of the programme. The problem of scarcity in the supply of good quality leaves often slowed down the targeted progress of this practise as rainy season and an over -dry weather would reduce the quality of the Sal Tree leaves.

Challenge was also encountered in the field of storage of the excess leaves and the extra plates also got damaged due to poor storage facility.

Best Practices 2

Title of the Practice:

Waste to Best: Paper Art

Objective : This practice was initiated with the following objectives:

 *To re-use waste papers collected from the College and make a good use of them for the preparation of paper envelopes, packets and other applied art works to serve the purpose of our artistic and aesthetic impulse.

* Reduce wastage by promoting the recycling of unnecessary papers usually discarded in the College and thus re-use them for practical purpose.

*To reduce expenditure of the College in buying paper packets and envelopes for the purpose of storage of documents.  

*Acquainting the students and young boys and girls about the process of collecting proper waste papers after using in office and every departments for the purpose of making cheap and  good quality packets ,envelopes or decorative components.

Context:

Being a higher educational institution, the College generally uses a lot of papers in the regular activities of all kinds. Many papers are often not used properly and thus they keep on lying around the College premises without any proper disposal. This creates a hazardous image of unnecessary wastage and causes a visual displeasure to outsiders and visitors thus deteriorating the impression of the College. In course of time the idea of making a good use of the thrown away papers by creating objects of utility like envelopes, paper crafts as well as art oriented objects of decoration by teachers and students of the college appeared a wonderful way out from this problem.

Practice:

The practice was carried out through the following methods:

*A meeting was conducted by the Principal along with the Teachers, Non- Teaching Staff members and students of the College regarding the utility of the planned project which would be performed during tenure of one week within the College.

*Teachers and willing students were made to enlist their names in the programme. As a number of the College teachers were adept in the knowledge of Paper Craft, they could use their skills to mentor the students in this entire programme.

* The students were made to collect the unused old papers from all the departments, the offices, the canteen, the laboratories and other such places.

* A major list was prepared stating and classifying the various uses to which the different kind of papers could be used.

The well kept papers were separated for making Craft oriented designs while the mostly soiled papers were used for making envelopes, packets, bookmarks etc.

*The teachers did a wonderful job by demonstrating the technique of folding papers for each and every object that was supposed to be created.

*Designs were obtained from various sources and often imaginarily recreated with the help of interested students who were energetically interested in their object of turning waste into their best.

* Decorations for the Staff Room, Office, Common Room, and Seminar Hall etc were done by art works created by the students and teachers in this practise.

*Applied Art became another major area of improvisation in this section as the teachers taught a certain section of participants about the highly creative usage of paper through the making of jewelleries prepared out of waste papers found in the College.

*These products were later displayed in students’ art exhibition during the various Cultural Programmes and many of these objects received much appreciation for their efforts. 

Evidence of success:

The evidence of success for this entire programme laid in the mutual trust and cooperation which was observed to be flourishing between the teachers and the students. There was a sound response to the entire initiative taken up by the teachers in order to transform waste into the best. Success was obtained in the new kind of craft learned by the students and this also helped in the expansion of their imaginary faculty which was perhaps lying dormant among most of the talented students. This was also a relief from the daily monotony of work usually performed in College.

Problems encountered and resources required: There was no such acute problem arising during the course of this programme as the resources were already available within the College. It was indeed a very affirmative programme organised within the College by the teachers and students performing together.