Changemaker Social Transformation 2019 Winner : Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences. How Kalinga enables tribal students lead a life of dignity

Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), which clinched the 2019 businessline Changemaker Award in the category of Social Transformation, continues to make progress on its cherished dream of empowering the resource-poor tribal students with skills required to lead a life of dignity.

The KISS family comprises 80,000 children, including 30,000 students who study at the main campus in Bhubaneswar, 10,000 students who study at 10 satellite centres of KISS across Odisha, and 40,000 alumni.

Founded by educationist and philanthropist Achyuta Samanta, the 30-year-institute has indirectly impacted over eight million tribal children and youth so far. The students come from 62 different tribal groups within the region, including 13 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in the State.

After it won the Changemaker award four years ago, the institute has expanded its reach to bring more tribal students under its purview. It offers quality education, fully residential and free, to tribal children, without compromising on their cultural roots and heritage.

“We won several other accolades after we won the businessline award. We received the prestigious UNESCO International Literacy Prize in 2022 and Green Gowns International Award in 2023,” Samanta said.

It has also hosted two important meets - Janjatiya Khel Mohatsav and World Anthropology Congress 2023. The university has also adopted and evolved many practices - Professors of Practice, a new window opened by the University Grants Commission (UGC), that allows higher educational institutes to rope in industry veterans as faculty.

“We have also established a Committee for promotion, preservation and protection of tribal rights and identities, and a tribal advisory committee. The university is faring well in research and innovation,” he said.

Besides addressing the challenges of hunger and malnutrition, child labour and trafficking, early girl child marriage, the KISS network of schools helped reduce dropouts to a large extent.

The institute is promoting sports in a big way. “We have groomed around 5,000 sportspersons who have participated and excelled in prestigious national and international events,” he said.

3E approach

Samanta, who is also an MP representing Kandhamal Constituency, says KISS follows a 3E approach - Educate, Enable, Empower. The model prioritises indigenous control of education, to preserve the culture, heritage and traditions of India’s diverse tribal communities and fulfil the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 in its entirety.

“The higher education wing, KISS Deemed to be University, is the only university in the world that focuses exclusively on tribal students. We aim to reach over two million students directly in the next decade with a dedicated vision of – No child should be deprived of education because of poverty,” Samanta says.

To align itself with the NEP, KIIT Deemed to be University set up a dedicated task force with educationists and strategists, to interpret, strategise, and execute the policy’s guidelines.

Similarly, KISS Deemed to be University is also implementing the NEP 2020. The best example is the mother-tongue based multilingual education. 

“The NEP 2020 is a watershed moment in the history of education in India. It not only seeks to make our universities world-class, but to make India the knowledge hub. I am glad it made several out of the box suggestions that have the potential to turn India into a global education hub,” he points out.

Stating that Nobel laureate Amartya Sen wanted the country to spend 10 per cent of GDP on education, he said the country is presently spending about 6 per cent. “We must continue the tempo to get our aspiration to reality.”

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