Nalanda: Service-learning In A Remote Indian Village
By Ong Qi Ting, 2nd year student teacher
In December 2017, 16 inspired NIE student teachers embarked on a two-week service learning trip to Nalanda, a village deep in the valleys of Namdapah in northern India.
This was our second trip to serve the Chakma community, an ethnic group living in Namdapah for over 50 years after fleeing from Bangladesh in the 1960s. There was tension and conflicts with rival tribes at first, but these had reduced in recent years, and the Chakma community hoped to eventually settle down peacefully in the village.
We arrived at Nalanda to a warm reception by the villagers. We took on a few classes at the village school and were heartened to find the students eagerly following our lessons. The local teachers were on-hand to help us especially when some of the terms were lost in translation. The villagers opened their homes to us for house visits and shared unreservedly on the countless questions we had for them.
As a team, we grew stronger each day. We conducted daily reflection to improve our teaching and engagement with the students and forged strong bonds with the community. When the time came for us to leave, many of us were reluctant to go.
We are extremely grateful for the opportunity to return and serve the Chakma community. We are also thankful of HelpTourism, the partner organisation who assisted our team throughout the trip.
Our team unanimously agreed that the Nalanda service-learning was a truly meaningful and educational Overseas Service-Learning Trip. It taught us things we could not have learnt in the classroom and opened our eyes to a world beyond our own. It was a life-changing experience we will never forget.
Learning Through Service
Service-learning is an effective educational approach that provides valuable first-hand pedagogical skills to student teachers by engaging them in community services. The knowledge and experience gained through service-learning enables them to inspire future students to be compassionate and participate in community service. The experience also strengthens their characters and teaches them humility and independence.
The NIE Service-Learning Club (NIE SLC) organised various programmes in 2017 for student teachers to participate in service-learning. These include two major local events, Bandhudera and Art Facilitation @ St Luke’s Hospital, as well as overseas service-learning trips to Nalanda and Sikkim, India and ‘Catwalk’ - a tiger conservation effort in Malaysia. Student teachers can look forward to more service-learning opportunities as the club expands its partnerships with organisations to reach out to other communities.
Read more about service-learning activities and sign up for programmes at the
NIE SLC Facebook.
- Bandhudera
Bandhudera, which means friends in Bengali, is a social event jointly organised by NIE SLC and HealthServe for migrant workers and student teachers to interact through games and activities that promote cross-cultural sharing, and to learn about each other’s dreams and aspirations. HealthServe is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the wellbeing of migrant workers in Singapore. In the second run of Bandhudera in 2017, 40 migrant workers and student teachers came together for an enriching time of games and interactions.
- Art Facilitation @ St Luke’s Hospital
Held on the last Saturday of each month, this art-making event at St Luke’s Hospital is part of a long-term initiative by NIE SLC. Ten student teachers paired up with secondary school students to teach patients how to make stress balls out of socks. Participants were given a volunteer orientation session by the hospital on the guidelines and etiquette in engaging the patients. Our student teachers had a fun and rewarding time facilitating the art session, and the patients enjoyed making their own stress balls, from stuffing cotton wool into the socks to decorating them with colourful felt pieces.
