Beyond Curriculum
July 15, 2021 2022-08-05 7:44Beyond Curriculum
Extention / Outreach Programmes
As part of its ethos, Montfort has its own way of nurturing the mental health of community at large. The Children’s Day is a major initiative of both the staff and students towards the emotional and psychological well-being of the children from lower SES growing up in different institutions. The National Girl Child Day is another yearly event focussed on the girl child. The World Suicide Prevention Day is observed with various programmes to create awareness among the society at large.
The World Mental Health day is organised more as an awareness building programme for the Montfort community and some outreach work in the neighbouring communities. The Women’s Day is celebrated with seminars and other activities geared towards creating gender equality and to facilitate empowerment of women. Apart from these yearly events as part of the clinical services, with the guidance of the staff, the institute empowers students to conduct training sessions and workshops on various topics for the neighbouring communities as well as for others who request the same.
Student Council
Montfort College has an active student council which is elected by the student body once every year under the guidance of the faculty. Students are encouraged to participate in the activities of the student council. The student council liaisons with the faculty and facilitates all student affairs, including college events, feedback and suggestions.
Bala Mela
Every year, Montfort College students organize Bala Mela, a children’s day outreach programme. This activity brings together 400-800 orphaned, underprivileged children from different parts of Bangalore and engages them in a day of fun and frolic. The student volunteers organize various fun-filled activities for the children meant to simply help them laugh. A group 5 children are assigned a “kid buddy” from among the student volunteers. Kid buddies monitor the children throughout the day and also encourage them to participate actively in all the events. These kid buddies are also available to the children if they need any help. The college raises funds to give the children good meals and gifts. The college also organizes transport of the children to and from their residences. This activity not only helps create a sense of wellbeing in the orphaned and underprivileged children, but it also improves the empathy and care of our own students.This is surely a great thrust towards improving mental health and emotional wellbeing in society. This is neither a requirement by the university nor its curriculum. This activity is one of our most significant contributions to society.
Kannada Classes
Kannada classes are offered during the semester to all non-Kannada speaking students.
Elixir
As a post graduate Institution, the college encourages all its faculty and students to publish research articles in National / International journals. To initiate and sharpen the writing skills, the college has its own magazine, Elixir, which is a bi-annual publication.
Each issue is based on a specific theme relating to mental health. The issue published in the even semester is based on the WHO’s theme for World Mental Health day. The theme for the other issue published in the odd semester is decided by the editorial board. Elixir has a combination of articles, stories, poems, sketches etc. all based on the theme of that issue. The students and staff members contribute equally to the magazine, making it an interesting and informative material for the readers. Some of recent themes in the past have been Depression, Positive Psychology, etc
Parent Committee
Parents are the institutions most valuable stakeholders. College organizes interaction with the parents periodically. The suggestions and feedback obtained through this process are invaluable to the institution and are incorporated into the training schedule as much as possible
