09/10/2012 To, The Principal, Shyadri College of Engineering & Management, Sahyadri Campus, Adyar, Mangalore- 575007.

Dear Sir, Sub: - NAMMA BHOOMI RURAL VISIT Proposal In order to expose the II year MBA students to the working of an NGO engaged in rural development, we are organizing a one day visit to Namma Bhoomi located near Kundapur town, Udupi district on Thursday, 11th October, 2012 between 8:30 am and 5:00pm. The following faculty members will be accompanying the students: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Mrs. Vishal Samartha Prof. Raghavendra Prabhu Prof. Ramesh K G Prof. Girish M Prof. Madhukar S M Prof. Ashwitha Karkera Ms. Susanna Dsilva Ms. Sneha Shetty Ms. Shilpa Shetty Ms. Divya Prabhu

Cost Per Person: Rs.200/person (includes snacks, lunch & bus fare) Total No. Of Persons for the Visit: 117 students 10 MBA Faculties Budget : Snacks Bus fare Lunch -Rs. 1500.00 (600-juice + 900 - Biscuits ) -Rs.15000.00 -Rs. 5000.00 (i.e 40/plate ) ---------------Rs.21500.00 ==========

Schedule: Timings 8.30 am 11.00 am 11.00 am - 11.30 am 11.30 am to 11.45 am 11.45 am to 1.30 pm 1.30 pm to 2.30 pm 2.30 pm 5.00 pm Place Departure from Sahyadri College Reach Kundapur Interaction with Villagers Tea Break Conduct activity for village children Lunch with the villagers/ children Depart to Mangalore Return to Sahyadri College

Request you to kindly grant permission for the same.

NAMMA BHOOMI
Namma Bhoomi (Our Land) is located near Kundapur town in the Udupi district at the foothills of the Western Ghats on the bank of the river Varahi. The 6.25-acre campus was designed to give working children a chance to continue their education and also relieve the immediate burden of survival. The campus has residential accommodation, educational and training facilities for over 100 youth (girls and boys). The aim of the Namma Bhoomi is to be a community resource that: Develops self-reliance Qualities of leadership Enables access to appropriate technology Provides mechanisms for soc-cultural, political and economic change

The vocational courses conducted in Namma Bhoomi have received recognition for their content and the calibre of the graduates. The graduates are widely accepted for their apprenticeship programmes. This has generated increased interest in the local communities and a large number of youngsters now apply for the courses. Namma Bhoomi has received a wide recognition for the principles it promotes through practice. Its culture, ambience and vocational courses have caught the imagination of the general public. The education programme has evolved over the years, while responding to the emerging needs of children. The feedback and experience of successive batches of students have moulded the programme. Namma Bhoomi, a residential school for working children near Kundapur town, was inaugurated in 1993. It was designed to give working children a chance to continue their education and also relieve the immediate burden of survival. They felt that a residential programme would create an environment where caste and gender biases could be broken and a new value system nurtured by examining/ analysing ones society and the larger milieu in which we live. It would also improve the nutritional level of children. The educational and training programme has four components. Firstly, the curriculum that enables children to brush up and/or learn basic scientific concepts equivalent to class X of the formal system. Secondly, the general educational and awareness programmes address the developmental needs of children - focusing on development of the individual. The third dimension responds to the empowerment needs of children. The fourth component focuses on professional and vocational training needs of children. These are addressed through a range of skill training courses. This has emerged as one of the pioneering models in integrated education for adolescent boys and girls, and has been taken note of by the Planning Commission, Government of India as a viable model for replication. The students of Namma Bhoomi are recognised as ambassadors of childrens rights. The graduates continue to get support from the Makkala Panchayat on their return to their villages on completion of their course and they in turn, continue to support the movement of working children. Though it started small, now, Namma Bhoomi is recognised as a Community Polytechnic by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

CWC, in its involvement with street and working children, has stressed the importance of nurturing local bio-diversity resource bases as one important way of stemming the outlaw of children from rural to urban areas. It is also a way of retaining family integrity and providing for a sane childhood. On the Namma Bhoomi campus, CWCs training unit in Kundapur, the children helped begin a small seed wealth centre of local vegetable seeds in 2002. They look after it and monitor what comes in and out, and keep record of seed exchanges. This is alongside their regular home gardening activities. The entire thing fits the bill of Grow a garden, grow a curriculum very well. Many of the children have come from traumatic backgrounds. Several of the most disturbed children have become ardent seed keepers and enthusiastic explorers and stewards of ecology and environment of their hearts and minds, and of their surroundings.