A much-needed internet tool for supporting poor, needy and stranded students in the midst of the lockdown due to COVID19 has been launched by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) April 4, 2020.

Within two days of the video conferencing between TERRE Policy Centre, Pune and AICTE on need assessment, the experts from AICTE got into action to enable the Support to Student-S2S portal which was launched by India's Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal.

Marginalised and weaker sections of the society always suffer the most when the crisis unfolds.  Many among the school, college and university student community in India, known as the most diverse and dispersed segment of youth in the world, were caught in nationwide lockdown since March 25.

Many were stranded in hostels and rented accommodation or at home separated from their alma mater. There was urgent need to support them and re-connect them to their family, schools, colleges and meet their urgent personal needs including psychological support.

On April 1, the need assessment video conferencing was held under the guidance of Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe and participation by Chairman AICTE, Rajendra Shende, Chairman of TERRE Policy Centre, Prof Joe Thomas , expert in public health from MIT WP University and Rajas Khobragade , President of Republican Student Federation

Based on the priority agenda 10-point assessment that emerged from the conference, the website https://helpline.aicte-india.org was tested and launched within record time of one day on April 3 with the expertise of  Buddha Chandrashekhar, Chief Coordinating Officer, AICTE  and  student interns Shivanshu and Akash of Graphic Era University.

“I appeal to all social, cultural, voluntary, philanthropic organizations and foundations to pitch in and support this noble cause at such a crucial juncture in the history of mankind”, said Prof Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman of AICTE.

AICTE and TERRE Policy Centre have joined hands through partnership agreements aimed at developing smart solutions for the education on sustainable development through a Smart Campus Cloud Network-SCCN. The website-portal essentially connects those students who are in need to those who are willing to provide help. The nature of support includes accommodation, food, on-line classes, mentoring, queries on examinations, admissions, scholarships, health, transport and harassment. More than 6500 colleges have already come forward to provide support at such a crucial juncture.

“Technology has potential to lead the world out of crisis and continue our march towards sustainable development goals of United Nations”, said Shende, Chairman TERRE and former director, UNEP. “This web site itself would act as the candlelight to drive away the darkness of COVID19 and support the efforts of PM Narendra Modi”, he added. 

TERRE would be organising webinars to outreach the S2S internet portal over next few days and provide input to AICTE for improvement.

Interested voluntary organizations, NGOs, social organizations, philanthropists, aid foundations are requested to participate in Project S2S to nurture tomorrows path-finder citizens in this unprecedented crisis . Contact AICTE at: cconeat@aicte-india.org and TERRE at sccn.team@gmail.com

AICTE The All India Council for Technical Education is a world-class organization leading technological and socio-economic development of India by enhancing the global competitiveness of technical manpower and by ensuring high quality technical education to all sections of the society. It is the statutory body and a national-level council for technical education under India's Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development. https://www.aicte-india.org

TERRE Policy Centre is a non-profit, non-partisan and independent organization dedicated to sustainable solutions to our developmental imperatives. TERRE also is the abbreviation for ‘Technology, Education, Research and Rehabilitation for the Environment.’ TERRE strives to reach all strata of society, particularly the young generation and people at the bottom of the pyramid with capacity building tools on energy and food security. Its motto is: "To think is good but to act is better”. https://terrepolicycentre.com

SCCN facilitates colleges and universities to mainstream the future policy-makers and policy-implementers in implementing the SDGs by promoting sharing of the information on transformative actions undertaken by students and faculties in the campus. More importantly, it encourages to deploy the digital technologies like IoT (Internet of Thing), AI (Artificial Intelligence), Cloud-networking, Machine-to-machine learning and Block chain for optimum use of energy, water in campus and catalyse effective waste management, sustainable transport, air pollution and nature conservation within the campus. (www.sccnhub.com)