T. K. Madhava Memorial College, Nangiarkulangara is a pioneer institution, providing quality education to young and ignited minds coming from various social strata; and moulding them to become responsible citizens of tomorrow. This college comes under the renowned Sree Narayana Trusts, which was named after the eminent visionary and social reformer, Sree Narayana Guru, whose ideas continue to endure the ravages of time. Aptly referred to as “Yugaprabhavan” or the illustrious person of the epoch, he told the masses that “Liquor is poison. It should not be brewed, served or drunk.” Empowered by a group of erudite teachers with a flair for social commitment, this institution always upheld Guru’s exhortation of “Enlightenment through Education” and was in the forefront of crusades against social evils like drug abuse. With a student population of about 1300, enrolled in post graduate and undergraduate courses, this aided college is affiliated to the University of Kerala. The college has established its distinctive approach in comprehensive education by aligning extension activities with academics.
Concerned by the escalating accidents, illnesses and family problems caused by substance abuse, the college has always endeavoured to create awareness against this social evil. In accordance with our tradition of crusade against drug abuse, the college intensified its campaign in 2017 with many projects against drugs and alcohol, in response to the rising substance abuse among youth during the past several years and has met with astounding success in many of them.
The college was able to spread the message against drug abuses in the 194 schools of the district through drama and poster presentations; and make more than one lakh students sign liquor abstention pledge. It was able to extend the message to a great number of people through enacting the drama in public places. Many organizations expressed their interest in the drama, understanding its scope in enhancing the activities of their liquor abstention programmes. This was evident in the meeting held at Haripad and the Kerala University N.S.S. Meeting.
Other Activities in Connection with the Crusade
Signature Collection
The activities of the year commenced with a signature collection campaign started in June 2017. The college aims to collect over 1,00,000 signatures from Alappuzha district on a poster depicting statistical data of drug induced problems. It will later be handed over to the Government of Kerala to provide a thrust to campaigns against drugs and alcohol.
Oath taking
On June 26 2017, the NSS volunteers lead the students of our College to take oath on alcohol abstention.
Cycle Rally
A cycle rally to create awareness on substance abuse was jointly coordinated by the NSS unit, NCC unit and Eco Club. Conducted on June 15, the rally covered various parts of Haripad Constituency, spreading the message of abstinence from alcohol and drugs.
Counselling Class
The month of July witnessed a counseling class for the entire first year students on the dangers of drug abuse. Divided into four sessions, the counseling was handled by Sri. C. R. Rajilan, JCI Counseling Trainer from Junior Chambers International (JCI), Karunagappally.
Literary Competitions
On August 8 2017, the Women’s Cell of the college conducted Pencil Drawing and Poster Designing competitions on the topic “Substance Abuse”. This was followed by Story Writing, Versification and Essay Writing competitions conducted by Health Club and Department of Malayalam on the same topic on September 14 2017. These competitions were aimed at creating awareness among students.
Manuscript Magazine
The month of October set the college abuzz with the release of the manuscript magazine “Pukakkalle Pakalukal” (Don’t Puff Away Your Days) by the NSS volunteers. The magazine won second prize in the district level competition conducted by the Excise Department on 30 August 2017 for the colleges.
Exhibition
On 18 November 2017, the college Health Club in association with the Department of Excise, Government of Kerala held an exhibition on “Drug Abuse” in order to caution people on the dangers of drugs and liquor.
Apart from the above-mentioned programs, the college has come up with many projects against drugs and alcohol in response to the rising substance abuse among youth during the last four years and has met with astounding success in many of them.
Activities of Vimukthi Club
As per the directives given by the Dept of Collegiate Education and the Excise Department of Kerala, our college formed a Vimukthi Club. The club initiates and propagates programmes that spread awareness against the menace of drugs and other addictive substances. Major programmes which we organized are as follows.
Activities of other student bodies
The crusade against drugs is now sustained by related activities hosted by clubs like Vimukthi Club, Centre for Gandhian Studies, NCC, NSS and several departments.
Harithamadhvam
Inspired from the success and acceptance of our crusade against drugs, the college decided to conduct activities in support of Central and State governmental programmes like Swatch Bharath Abhiyan and Haritha Keralam, as an off-shoot. This culminated in the starting of our green initiative programme ‘Nammude Keralam, Nammude Pariraksha’(Our Kerala, Our Protection).
To retain the momentum and to keep up good spirits among the students, during the lockdown period, the attention was slightly shifted to online and offline covid activities by various clubs. This and the covid-time activities was later advanced to much more comprehensive green campus initiative ‘Harithamadhavam’ which aims at redefining our environmental culture and developing new paradigms by creating sustainable solutions to environmental, social and economic needs of the students and staff.
In brief, these programs prove to be an elegant testimony to the social commitment of this institution.
