M.Gandhi College of Social Work

West Champaran

India

Profile Information:

Primary Social Change Interest

Peace, Social Justice, Environment

Why are you interested in the Gandhi-King Community?

The Gandhi College of Social Work , known as Dream rainbow Project. It is to create a workable and replicable innovative institution of higher education producing social workers , development professional that will not only provide students with adequate theoretical training but also with a community based in-service training that is aimed on changing the community itself. We want to build a college that will be rooted in tradition and meet local community needs. We want to create a college that will not only transform local community, but will instil in its students a global perspective on local community issues. This will be assured by connecting the college with a strong worldwide network of higher education institutions in the process of developing curriculum, courses and opportunities for students opportunities for multicultural grassroots exposure.

The traditional courses lay a greater emphasis on theory, with a substantial weight (about 70 % of the grades) given to written papers and to only about 30 percent of the grades awarded for practical work.

This College of Social Work will be laboratory of social activist and worker. College will promote Gandhiji's thought and promote Gram Sawaraj.

Website (commercial websites are not allowed):

http://gandhifoundation.net

Organizations related to Gandhi/King

The Dream Rainbow will be located at Bhitiarwa Ashram, Gaunaha, Narkatiaganj, West Champaran, Bihar, India. Bhitiarwa Ashram was the first venue from which the well-known Gandhian 'Satyagraha against the Indigo Merchants' took place. The land for the Ashram , as well as for the adjunct Gandhi Memorial Museum, hospital, school and Gandhi Research Centre was donated by the Arvin family and currently is Panchayat owned. The complex that houses a Gandhi Memorial Museum supervised by the Ministry of Culture and Youth. The Madanpur forest (part of the Valmiki tiger Reserve) is about 16km away. With the exception of the Museum, all the other buildings are neglected and require renovation.

The idea to create a new college affiliated with the Gandhi Research Institute, Gandhi Memorial Museum and utilizing already existing infrastructure has been reinforced by the following facts:

The location is on the border between Nepal and India, in one of the most backward states, and in a remote area that will give the students an ample opportunity for implementation of various sustainable development projects.
The presence of smaller habitations, with tribal communities as well as non-tribal communities.

The presence of forests and proximity to the tiger reserve will provide opportunities for sustainable development programmes for this specific environmental/ecological sector.

There is a nostalgic and emotional attachment locally to the social uplift started by Gandhi, and a general feeling of sadness that the property is largely misused and is in a dilapidated condition. In preliminary discussions with the community leaders and Panchayat leaders held in January 2010, it was felt that the new college will revitalise the local communities in frame of a practical Gandhian development model and that would motivate people's involvement by seeing this initiative as a tribute to the Mahatma.

During his visit in India in February 2010 Dr. Marek Wosinski together with Birendra Kumar, project coordinator, visited the complex and met with Chauan family to discuss the plans of turning the neglected complex into a college for social workers. The family appeared to be enthusiastic about the project, as it would make a tribute to their grandfather who always dreamed of turning the place as a living memory of Gandhi. They also are aware of the fact that the college will definitely contribute to the development of the area by creating new jobs, offering educational opportunities for local youth and by active efforts made by college students to create a sustainable community in their Panchayat.


As an immediate result of this visit a working plan for the development of the college has been created. In discussion with Prof. Gracious Thomas, the Dean of the School for Social Work at Indira Gandhi National Open University, plans were made for affiliating the college with IGNOU by creating in the college a IGNOU Learning Centre. Our vision is to have the first students there at the beginning of 2011.

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