ইংৰাজী প্ৰবন্ধ, AROHAN: Mounting Towards a Noble Brilliance, Ranu Choudhury, ৪ৰ্থ বছৰ ১ম সংখ্যা,

AROHAN:  Mounting Towards a Noble Brilliance 

“The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.” -- Diogenes

     Project AROHAN, a Government of Assam initiative, is a four-year mentorship programme for students. The Project AROHAN is launched with an aim to mentor students and to ameliorate their skills so as to enhance the growth of their academic career. In simple words, the project AROHAN is the education segment of the series of ambitious programmes initiated by the Government of Assam. Basically, AROHAN is a Mentor-Mentee programme for meritorious students of secondary classes in government and provincialized schools, initiated with the aim to emphasize inclusivity, support, empathy and societal contribution. This flagship programme is envisioned by the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Assam.
      For the mission in executing this flagship programme, it is utmost necessary to create a vision and articulate it, which will help in passionately owning and relentlessly driving the vision in completion the mission. Keeping this positive frame of mind, the Government of Assam decided to take the requisite steps which proved to be a milestone in launching the 4-year mentorship programme called Project AROHAN or AROHAN scheme. For the same, the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Assam met Anita Rajan, CEO of Tata STRIVE and Dr. Shalini Bhagat, Director, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) to seek co-operation for the project and then discussed about the issues related to strengthening of the infrastructure of TISS and Project AROHAN.
      In the list of key decisions taken by Assam Cabinet on 25th of June, 2022, this flagship programme took its first step towards implementation. The Assam Cabinet decided that a new flagship programme will be introduced for meritorious students. The key points for the programme named AROHAN as decided in the Assam Cabinet are as follows:
To provide guidance to talented students in the age group 13-18 years, i.e., for the meritorious students of class IX-XII from 2022-23.
The allocated budget was ₹5.96 crores.
This Mentor-Mentee programme, which is all about hand holding and support, to cover 4375 students from secondary classes.
It was proposed to be launched on 15th August, 2022 for selected students of class-IX from Government/Provincialized schools, Adarsha Vidyalayas, Tea garden Model Schools and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas, where the selection ratio of boys and girls is to be 50:50.
Each member can assist up to 5 mentees.
     After the successful foundation of AROHAN in the Assam Cabinet, this strong initiative took its next bold and decisive steps. The next step involves the launching of its web portal. The web portal was the path where the Mentor-Mentee linkage could be set up. The pool of mentors and the cohort of students should register themselves in the portal. Thereafter, the Chief Mentors, i.e., the Deputy Commissioners (now re-designated as District Commissioner) had to approve the mentors to establish the Mentor-Mentee linkage. The Chief Mentors have many other responsibilities too, like notifying the Mentors about their responsibilities and to maintain records or the progress of individual Mentors and Mentees.
       The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the implementation of AROHAN scheme in 2022-23 was released on 28th of December, 2022 by the Department of School Education, Dispur, Assam. This SOP, which contains all the information regarding this scheme, was forwarded to all the dignified offices of Assam.
      To carry this assignment that demands fulfilment, the Mentors were offered engagement letters from the Office of the District Mission Co-ordinator, Axom Sarba Shiksha Abhijan. As I am a Mentor in the district of Kamrup, so I received my engagement letter as a Mentor from the Kamrup district branch of this office. The letter is an invitation to attend the District Level Orientation programme for Mentors on Arohan 2022-23, where the details like Name, Contact number, School name, UDISE code of the assigned mentee was given. The letter also illustrates about the rules that a mentor has to undergo to counsel the mentee to awaken his curiosity for the purpose to conquer excellence in his academics. The same programme was held at some other districts too. The venue for this District Level Orientation programme for Mentors on Arohan, Kamrup was the Conference Hall of the Integrated DC office, Kamrup, Amingaon on the 8th of May, 2023. Furthermore, the Government of Assam has also decided to grant a sum of Rs.1000 to the mentees regarding obtainment of the suggested books for them under this AROHAN scheme. The Office of the District Mission Co-ordinator, Samagra Shiksha Kamrup has notified the Mission Director, Samagra Shiksha, Assam, Kahilipara; the Inspector of Schools, Kamrup and all the concerned Mentors of Arohan Scheme about the said grant. The information notice contains the guidelines that need to be adhered by Principal/Headmaster along with the names and category of the suggested books. The notice also informs that the book grant of Rs.1000 has already been given in the concerned bank accounts of those mentees currently studying in class-IX. This book grant is an advantageous factor for the mentees.
      Under the AROHAN scheme, the students, i.e. our mentees are also given a chance to visit some of the reputed institutions like National Law University and Judiciary Academy, Assam; All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Guwahati and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati. An interactive session was organised at IIT, Guwahati where the mentees got the opportunity to interconnect themselves with the Director of IIT, Guwahati and other dignitaries along with the District Commissioners. This initiative was taken by many districts all over Assam. The educational tour or the exposure trip was planned by different districts as per their convenience; for Kamrup district, it was planned on 21st  of August, 2023. Recently, a 4-day long developmental and enhancing exposure trip was arranged for the mentees from Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Hailakandi & South Salmara, starting from 4th to 6th October, 2023. A total of 351 students from these districts got the chance to visit IIT, Guwahati; Assam Biotech Park, Guwahati Planetarium, Science Centre, Assam State Zoo cum Botanical Garden, Army Camp, Narengi & Sankardev Kalakshetra. The mentees were also given to watch the movie ‘The History of Universe’ at the planetarium, which provided them an insight about the creation and evolution of the universe. The mentees got the chance to interact with Om Prakash, Mission Director of Samagra Shiksha Assam along with some dignified persons at IIT, Guwahati. On 5th October, they got the privilege to establish their communication with Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam along with some distinguished personalities. This interaction program was to foster their personal growth. This type of interaction program aspires in enhancing their perspectives. The evening of 5th October drew to a close with a spectacle bound cultural program. As the cultural event unfolds, the mentees were able to dive themselves into the world of our roots, traditions and values. While on their visit to Assam Administrative College, they were also given the opportunity to interact with Pankaj Chakravarty, Director, Indigenous & Tribal Faith & Culture Department and Rajib Boruah, DIAS, India. Such programs were also arranged for other districts too. Many batches of students have gone through the experiences of these trips & programs, which are basically organized to give them diverse and all-rounded experiences starting from theoretical to real-life world. Everything was arranged with a motive to enhance the curiosity of the students and their level of enthusiasm to maximise their output for improved literacy. This will also act as a commitment to nurture talent and promote culture.
       AROHAN, an education- administered programme is like a bedrock of continuous learning, knowledge and wisdom. This scheme has so far been very strong, decisive and result-oriented initiative, which already has and also will face positive outcomes. It will lead to increased persistence, self-evaluation, confident nature and intrinsic motivation in the minds of students, which in turn, will lead to their higher achievement. This scheme has given the students the platform to learn, participate, experience & engage, which primes them to be great humans in the form of any profession. This scheme will be a simple yet powerful tool to engage and motivate students, not only for the meritorious ones but also for the low academic achievers. This scheme has provided the mentees their mentors who will help them to unleash the potential to extend their learning in both inside and outside of their viewpoints, perspectives and future goals. The power of this AROHAN initiative is that it empowers the students to move to their next learning and to grow self-efficacy to become effective humans. The mentees will know how to develop human values and manage human and material resources to achieve their goals. As said by Peter Drucker, “Today, knowledge has power. It controls access to opportunity and advancement.” This scheme hopes to give opportunities to students leading them to advancement. Through AROHAN, the mentees will develop positive behaviour which will help them to strive academically and socially. Over time, AROHAN will establish its fullness by giving a meaningful and harmonious corner around the society and will prove itself as a mastery of a concept.

----------

Ranu Choudhury
Associate Professor & HoD,
Department of Political Science,
Rangia College



Sources:
Phulpahi Nath, Coordinator, Arohan Scheme, Kamrup.
Official twitter handle of Chief Minister of Assam.
Official YouTube channel of Chief Minister of Assam.
Official twitter handle of Chief Minister’s Office, Govt. of Assam.
Accessed Assam Cabinet decisions through https://cm.assam.gov.in
Official twitter handle of Samagra Shiksha Assam.
Official twitter handle of School Education Dept., Govt. of Assam.
Official twitter handle of Cabinet Minister for Higher Education, School Education, Tribal Affairs, Govt. of Assam.
Official twitter handle of Directorate of Information and Public Relations. Govt. of Assam.
Twitter handle of AIR News Guwahati.