Two Class-VIII students of the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), Bhutal Hansdah and Shantilata Murmu, have been selected to attend the US Cultural Immersion Institute-2014 for teachers and students of English Access Micro-Scholarship Programme.
Out of 15 English Access Micro Scholarship Programme-run institutes in India and Pakistan, 65 students from seven institutes of India, including the two from KISS, have been selected to attend the course.
Bhutal, who belongs to the Shantal tribe of Athapada under Khunta block of Mayurbhanj district, has lost his parents while his brother and sisters are daily labourers. He came to the KISS to study in Class-VI. Shantilata is also from a poor tribal family whose parents are daily labourers. She is from Panchugochhia of Keonjhar district.
They have been selected by the US Consulate by merit of their good performance in English language. Bhutal and Shantilata expressed their gratitude to KISS and Founder of KIIT & KISS Dr A Samanta for their education, care and motivation.
Dr Samanta said it’s a matter of pride for the KISS as well as for the tribal community in general that two tribal students have been selected by the US Embassy under the scholarship programme to visit the US, where they would spread the message about Odisha and its tribal community. Stating that all tribal students are gems, he informed that KISS students have attended the UN and many other international programmes in recent past.
For last ten years, the KISS is known to be empowering the tribal community through education successfully.