Institute for Social Engineering

Current Projects

ISE - Advanced Learning and Career Guidance Center in Rural Areas

ISE has setup an experimental rural education facilitation center in Ujire, Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka, India. The main objective of this centre is to provide learning facilities and guidance to educationally and economically backward rural children.

Activities

• Personality development, development learning capabilities, promoting creative thinking and expression.
• Teaching proper methods of listening, reading, speaking and writing; correct pronounciation, spelling, and handwriting.
• Attending to the student's problems concerning learning at school. Guidance for preparing for examinations.
• Providing information and guidance for further education: SSLC, PUC and degree courses in Arts, Science, Commerce, and professional courses.
• Providing knowledge of subjects of study and different areas of study, and careers. General knowledge about the environment and the world. Knowledge of different hobbies, and pursuit of student's interest.
• Tools and methods: children's books in kannada and english; books and periodicals that are of use in student's study; viewing educational videos and discussion; dialogues, learning activities and plays; talks by experts in different fields of study and interaction with them.

Ethno biodiversity conservation project

ISE, on an experimental basis is conducting a few field trials on ethno-medical biodiversity conservation. ISE believes that the key to conservation of ethno-bio diversity is with the people of the region. As a first step in this process, ISE is planning to set up a few in-situ conservatories in farmers fields, either as inter-crops, or as small medicinal plant gardens. We expect these conservatories also to double up as seed banks for the locality. To accelerate the process of plant identification and conservation ISE is offering a few bare foot fellowships to gainfully employ a few retired farm workers with extensive knowledge in ethno-bio-diversity.

ISE farmer fellows would identify, plant and preserve plants, with a focus on varieties that as fast disappearing from the locality.

The experimental projects are currently initiated in Kerala and Karnataka. We expect to extent this model to other regions of the country soon.