Media Release

Mangaluru, Dec 9: Adhering to the saying, 'Helping hands are better than Praying lips', the students of NITK, India’s premier technical institution, are making a difference in the lives of the underprivileged through the initiative, I-Care. I-Care is a social wing of 'Incident', the second largest cultural festival of south India. Apart from the inherent fun and frolic of the fest, 'Incident' has grown to be a socially sensitive fest through I-Care. This year being NITK’s diamond jubilee year and also the 40th edition of 'Incident', I-Care NITK has set out to diversify its impact on society.

Thousands of children, belonging to the fishing community along the coastal belt drop out of school every year, owing to the dire need to help supplement their family’s income. Beach schooling, an initiative from I-Care, tries to instill in them an interest toward English, practical Science and Mathematics, thereby trying to make a difference. Started in 2016, Beach Schooling had its humble beginning where the children were distributed solar lamps, allowing them to continue studies even in the dark. Gradually, they were also given stationery and bags in order to offer them support in all academic related activities. Through the funds raised from crowdfunding last year, many books were donated to the library of NITK Kannada Medium School along with the donation of water filters to the school.

I-Care is not only restricted to beach schooling, but also involves itself in eco-preserving activities by organizing beach cleaning and plastic recycling drives, where waste from the beach, mainly plastic is collected and recycled into useful products like keychains and clips using a compact machine, designed by the students, under the able guidance of Pruthviraj U, faculty of Applied Mechanics and mentor of I-Care NITK. These products reflect the care and concern towards an ever-depleting environment.

Volunteers of I-Care, which include students from BTech first year to final year, actively involve themselves in organizing and coordinating all the activities of I-Care. Teaching beach schooling children, organizing fundraising campaigns, beach clean drives, plastic recycling and cloth collection drives are some of these activities. Volunteers also teach extra-curricular activities like Origami and dance to the children of Lion’s School, Surathkal which is a special school for differently-abled children affected by cerebral palsy and autism.

Recently, all these efforts from I-Care were lauded by the ministry of HRD. Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Union Minister for HRD tweeted: 'Take a look at the incredible work done by the students of NITK Surathkal in respect to the #swachhbharat mission by taking up the initiative of recycling waste plastic into products like keychains, drawing clips etc. Kudos to the team! #CleanIndia #greenindiachallenge.”