Learning to serve, serving to learn

Social service learning or service learning, is a relatively new form of learning to enter the Indian system of education. Let us begin by asking a simple question - what exactly is service learning? Is it community service? Or is it a novel form of academic learning? The answer is that it is both.

While service learning is most definitely focused on serving and empowering society and developing a sense of civic responsibility amongst the students, it also gives due focus to improving the classroom performance of the students by way of developing their critical thinking capacity, leadership and organisation skills, creativity and innovation, or any other skill that relates to the syllabus of the students. In other words, social service learning is a bridge between community service and the academic curriculum of the students.

Social service learning is not a distinct subject by itself, but is integrated into the syllabus of the students. Let us take mechanical engineering as an example. A mechanical engineering student learns several subjects relating to this course, but if he were to do social service learning as a part of his or her curriculum, there could be several ways he or she could do this. One way would be in the form of designing a new innovation to serve the needs of the community. Another way could be improving an existing machine innovation. Similarly, if a management student were to have social service learning as a part of his/her syllabus, it could be in the form of conducting a fundraiser or organising an event for an underprivileged section of people.

Helping students understand that there is a relevant relationship between their professional skills and their role as citizens within their communities is important. The purpose of including community-based projects in the syllabus is to instill in students a sense of social responsibility and cultural awareness at an early stage in their professional life.

Thus, social service learning must relate to the curriculum of the student. If the service learning does not adhere to the student’s academic discipline, it is not service learning, but simply social service. Thus, if the prime focus of the service learning programme is only empowering communities and not student learning, the programme is a failure in the academic context.

Social service learning in India
The concept of service learning in its most basic form dates back to the philosophies of Socrates. However, it has only entered mainstream academia in late 20th century. There are mainly two philosophies associated with service learning – progressivism and pragmatism. To understand how service learning works and evaluate the impact it has on a student’s academic performance, it is important for us to understand these two philosophies.

Progressivism in education takes the form of experiential learning. Propagators of this philosophy believe that students learn best by experience. It says that students can retain information better through a hands-on approach. The Indian system of education has recently begun to shift to this kind of learning, though going by the majority of opinion, the Indian education system focuses primarily on taking in information and reproducing it in tests.

On the other hand, pragmatism has its focus on action-oriented learning. It believes that unless the students are taught to apply the knowledge they absorb in real-life situations, the knowledge is not of much value. This makes the learning of students more practical and relevant to current scenarios. Service learning, therefore, emerged as a combination of both these philosophies. It focuses on learning through action and reflection by applying knowledge to situations that are relevant to real-world circumstances. This translates to a more qualitative learning process for the students.

Getting students into communities
At this juncture, I would like to introduce an actual case of a service learning project. The student, Ajay Pai, is pursuing an undergraduate degree in Commerce at Christ University, Bengaluru. His service learning project revolved around organising a fruitful day for the children of Snehasadan and Daya Bhavan shelter homes.

Being a commerce student, this project gave him the platform to apply the skills he had acquired in organising and management. It also allows him to exercise his critical thinking abilities to design events that would suit the age and background of the children. He sensibly chose to design the events in a way that both engaged the kids as well as helped him develop his core competencies. Ajay chose three main events:

n Game on: An ice breaker wherein the kids can play a small game of football or basketball.

n Google 10: Being a Google Student Ambassador, Ajay has extensive knowledge of how Google works. He used this knowledge to teach the students about Google and also tell them about the wonders of being on the Internet.

n Speak up: Ajay is also a very talented public speaker and conversationalist. This ability helped him teach children how to speak and be heard by having a small oratory session involving rounds of Just A Minute and Extempore at very simple levels.

It was observed that Ajay had used the skills and abilities he had developed over the years in school and at the University, and has played to his strengths. This helps him refine his abilities while making a significant contribution to the lives of these underprivileged children. This is the true essence of social service learning.

While the primary benefit of service learning is an enhanced learning process, it is not limited to just that. Service learning offers multiple other benefits as well. For starters, community empowerment and skill enhancement are the most obvious. It is a win-win situation for students as well as the society. Several of the society’s needs are addressed by capable and competent young men and women. This also sensitises students to the needs of the communities around them and how they can play a role in the uplifting of these communities.

Skills students can gain
n Altruism and social awareness: Altruism in education should help students develop a sense of belonging to their communities. In addition, the main objective of these experiences should not only be the improvement of the students’ professional skills, but it should raise awareness about the realities of others. As a result, these activities might instil in students a sense of inclusiveness, diversity, belonging, and respect for others.

n Team spirit: Using teamwork in community-based projects will help students improve their interpersonal relationships by empowering them with their own decision-making and problem solving abilities.

n Critical thinking: It is very important to teach students to become critical thinkers. It allows them to make decisions through their own reflection and judgment. Community-based projects give students an opportunity to observe and analyse real-world situations while improving their professional skills and learning from the realities of their community.

n Interpersonal skills: When students work in groups in community-based projects, they learn to move beyond their comfort zone to interact with people from diverse backgrounds to find collective solutions. These activities foster enhanced student interaction, which implies communication, peer-assessment, and continuous feedback.

Take home message
Social service learning is a broad and largely unexplored concept in India. While several universities are gradually edging towards this learning system, there is still a long way to go. The major drawback of service learning is the difficulty in correlating learning with service. However, there is a vast scope for improving service learning in Indian education. And with more Indian colleges opting for service learning and the increasing focus on self-learning, the future of Indian education looks promising. And without question, service learning will play a pivotal role in effectively enhancing the academic learning of the students.

(The author is Professor, Dept Of Commerce, Christ University,
Bengaluru)