Dr G S Gigi is an Assistant Professor of the Saveetha School of Management, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She is a teacher by passion and profession, desires to inculcate value based education to the student fraternity. She is an Assistant Professor, specialized in Human Resources with an academic and industry experience of 13 years. She has completed her MBA in HR, completed Ph D in management, from M S university, Tirunelveli and also qualified NET. Her areas of interest in teaching are human resource management, marketing management, its specializations, organizational behavior, managerial economics and many other general management subjects. She has attended many conferences, published in both national and international conferences and journals.

Saveetha School of Management

What are your roles and responsibilities considering extension Activities in Saveetha School of Management, Chennai?

“Plan extension activities, weekly basis, and more are my primary responsibilities”

We at Saveetha School of Management jointly do the extension activities be it Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, NSS club or Rotaract club initiatives. I have been actively taking part in the extension activities done by SSM under the leadership of our Dean Dr Prasanna Sivanandam. I do planning and organizing the extension activities on a weekly basis by coordinating it with our students. So far we have done more than 200 such extension activities in a short span of years, under the banner of NSS, Rotaract and UBA clubs.

How do you ensure the student is a part of Extension Activities and what do they get out of it which helps in their future too?

“To ensure social outreach programs, and provide sustainable growth or development for students”

We ensure the voluntary participation of our students in any social outreach programs. Students while they join the program are given opportunities to join various clubs such as NSS, Rotaract, IIC, UBA, and do periodic appraisal meetings to ensure their active participation. In addition to this, students are encouraged to participate in other colleges/universities social programs to widen their scope of growth and knowledge. By actively participating in these programs, we will give them the courage and confidence to mingle with all sections of the people in the society. Students learn the importance of sustainable growth and development especially in terms of rural development along with common economic growth which automatically happens in urban areas.

How do you tend to build an industry connected with this program?

“Provide a great platform to enhance students' skills”

Saveetha School of Management has been actively involved in NSS and Rotaract club initiatives by participating in these programs. Students get to coordinate with various personalities in all sectors, like senior government officials, block development officers, village heads, headmasters/ principals of government schools as well as corporate officials. By having continuous interactions, our students develop a good formal rapport with them. Through these interactions, students learn about making rational decisions in any given practical situation. Students who have social entrepreneurism, use this as a great platform to enhance their skills.

What were the challenges that you faced while inculcating this program in your curriculum?

“Organize various extension activities and social programs for students”

To be frank, there are no such major challenges faced by us. In Higher educational Institutions, the Government has made it mandatory to conduct various extension activities to teach the students the importance of sustainable rural development. It has become an integral part of our institution too. In fact, students truly enjoy participating in such social initiatives which provides them contentment along with real life experience.

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What are the major extension activities conducted by your college?

“Conduct clean up camps, blood donation camps, Sustainable Development Goals awareness camps, donation activities, rallies and more”

There are many extension activities we have conducted. Few mentioned here are beach/school clean up camps, blood donation camps, Sustainable Development Goals awareness camps, donation activities, rallies etc. We also celebrate all major days such as international plastic free day, aids day, yoga day, doctors’ day, environmental day, senior citizens day, tobacco free day, anti drugs day, tree plantation day etc to create awareness among the public and to support the needed ones

Where do you focus more on doing extension activities?

“Regularly visit these villages, find out their needs and fulfill them accordingly within their capacity”

Our university, SIMATS has adopted 10 villages nearby the campuses. They are Sembarambakkam, Mevalurkuppam, Keelacheri, Madhuramangalam, Ulundai, Nesapakkam, Mappedu, Erayanamngalam, Molachur, Kondancherry to upgrade their status and to bring equality in the terms of development. We regularly visit these villages, find out their needs and fulfill them accordingly within the capacity. These villages were frequently visited by our students to conduct awareness programs, villagers thoroughly enjoy and actively participate with us.

Does your college have any other collaborative programs for extension development?

“Visit the school on a weekly basis and spend a whole day on awareness programs on campus”

Our college has signed a MoU with Voice Institute of Excellence to train the school kids in Sriperumbudur. It enhances their English communication skills. Our students visit the school on a weekly basis and spend a whole day with the kids. It is an enriching and overwhelming experience for our students, which helped them to understand the economic disparity in education, and thereby extending their services to the school kids. Our NSS club is also actively doing various programs under the banner of Nehru Yuva Kendra supporting school kids for encouraging sports skills and also conducting various awareness programs for the general public. 

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What is the top priority of your college for the next 3 or 5 years in terms of extension activities?

“Plan to conduct extension activities, social events, and NSS clubs on campus”

We are planning to conduct as many as extension activities which we would be able to do with the active involvement of our students. Apart from doing the usual extension activities, SSM is planning to conduct a mega social event to raise funds. It can be used for needy people in society. This would be done with the collaboration of Rotaract and NSS clubs. We would make it happen in 2023 planning for this has already started.