The immersion programmes are designed in such a way that students can have a better understanding of rural life, says Dr Tamal Datta Chaudhuri
Understanding India in its entirety with its diversity is significantly important for professionals of tomorrow, both in the zone of social change and leadership. Exposure to rural India is as much significant as comprehension of urban India, for any professional. Educational institutions with requisite programs can furnish their students with the novel chance to submerge themselves into country life and understand its intricacies.
In the present setting, rural India has steadily settled its qualifications as of practical importance — to a great extent because of the different Government-driven activities that are contributing to the ambit of financial inclusion. This will enable corporate elements to take advantage of the rising opportunity, accordingly opening up new roads of corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Developing fortune combined with better correspondence and availability, rural markets are bound to become the dominant focal point. These progressions are prompting adjustments in goals, inclinations and purchasing conduct of rural customers. These markets present difficulties to marketers regarding promoting systems, correspondence, building supply-chain mechanisms. Marketing, advertising and communication towards rural markets may give new avenues to the media domain, with a growing relevance on digital and social marketing.
Bridging this void in various management programmes across the country are Rural Immersion Programmes. These programmes are designed in such a way, that students can have a direct understanding of a nation’s rural life.
This programme principally empowers students to structure and actualise rural correspondence systems that join participatory strategies with correspondence procedures, media, and instruments. The arranging itself is a unique procedure, as indicated by the circumstance, the time, assets that are accessible and, in particular, the plan of an organisation and its partners.
The programme is arranged towards guaranteeing that the members get an opportunity to apply their classroom learning into a practical real-life domain. Furthermore, the program offers the students an opportunity to investigate and recognise execution lapses or business openings, which can help fill these voids. The programme additionally sharpens students towards social issues, which are pervasive in such social orders.
The idea of a Rural Immersion programme is not just constrained to offering an introduction to college students to visit these places, but to bring learning and open doors for students of the urban foundation by living in a farmer’s home for a couple of days and comprehend their predicament and issues.
The programme is in fact given to sharpen and teach urban students about social issues concerning country individuals and their components to battle despite seemingly insurmountable hurdles in their everyday lives. This is a one of a kind programme intended to change a student into an all-encompassing individual. The accentuation of this one of a kind programme is significant in exploring and taking a shot at ground level with the goal that each student can contribute to maintainable advancement of the rural network.
The writer is Dean and Professor, Calcutta Business School
