Student leaders in Andhra Pradesh take on social issues

(Sept. 07, 2011) Student leaders from Catholic colleges across southern India’s Andhra Pradesh State have devised various programs to better understand and address social issues. “Think to act, act to transform” was the theme of the orientation camp organized in Anandajyoti, Guntur by the All India Catholic University Federation - AICUF.
Federation members from a Jesuit college plan to promote environmental issues by encouraging fellow students not to use motor vehicles on the campus. Their counterparts at two women’s colleges plan to visit homes for the elderly and prisons regularly to assure people there that society still cares for them. They also plan to travel to remote villages as part of their efforts to understand tribal and dalit groups
AICUF members in another college, plan to conduct regular classes for students at a local government school to improve education standards in such institutions.
Around 40 student leaders from seven Catholic colleges attended the September 2-3 camp. Jesuit Father Amar Rao, one of the organizers said the camp aimed to address a lack of effective Catholic leaders in social, political and cultural circles in Andhra Pradesh. It also discussed topics such as corruption, consumerism, fundamentalism and casteism and studied government welfare schemes for the poor and the need for dynamic leadership in a fast changing world, the priest added.