Community Connect is a unique feature of seamless education at NIIT University, practiced across all programs. One of the declared educational objectives of NU of ‘preparing well rounded’ citizens means that the students are well rooted into the reality of the Indian environment. This idea is translated into reality through an audit course in Community Connect for every student in every semester.
The course requires Each One (NU student) Teach One (school student in a rural school in the vicinity). The course enables NU student to appreciate and inculcate values like ‘Sensitivity towards under-privileged’ and ‘humility’ and develops understanding of the problems in education at the grass-root level.
In specific terms, the learning goals are stated as:
i. Getting a closer perspective of the rural/semi-rural educational system in India.
ii. Inculcating teaching skills and imbibing qualities like patience, empathy, sensitivity and curiosity.
iii. Appreciating the life conditions of community at large and villages in particular.
iv. Sensitizing the teachers, principals and community members to use of technology and scientific way of thinking.
v. Integrating mentoring skills into the learning process so as to enable to become a good quality researcher and a good human being.
There is a larger vision of Community Connect which would unfold in future in terms of adopting a group of villages and working with them on solving their real issues and researching on native practices in agriculture, medicine, social customs, etc.