IIM to talk them out of quota mindset

AT A time when the ?reserve-vs-deserve? debate is raging across the country, IIM- Lucknow students have decided to mentor the less privileged. It is IIM-L?s way of saying that reservations are not the solution to help the weak. Solution: ?Make them competent!?

AT A time when the ‘reserve-vs-deserve’ debate is raging across the country, IIM- Lucknow students have decided to mentor the less privileged. It is IIM-L’s way of saying that reservations are not the solution to help the weak. Solution: “Make them competent!”

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Starting Wednesday, IIM-L’s student committee ‘Bhavishya’ would launch the ‘Disha’ programme in which, 34 Class XI students from Bakshi Ka Talab Inter College would be called for a three-day orientation workshop. The students’ affairs committee has also hired professional counsellors.

The emphasis, as Suman Punru, PGP II student and a member of Bhavishya said, would be to test the aptitude, motivate and counsel the students.

“All students selected belong to the underprivileged category. In the second phase, we plan to involve schools in the project,” said Suman.

IIM students would keep in touch with them throughout to monitor their progress. Another Bhavishya member Akash Mishra said on the basis of a feedback from the first programme students would expand their reach. Each less privileged student—economically or otherwise, would be assigned a mentor who would help shape the mind. “The idea is that all students should aim to qualify on the basis of merit. We would have psychologists who would understand the student’s psyche,” Prof Dharmendra Sengar, chairman, students’ affairs at IIM-L told HT Live.

The idea to mentor those who either because of their caste or economic status don’t have the opportunities came when Prof Sengar interacted with some IIM students hailing from backward areas.