The incredible journey of two tribal children from a nondescript village of Mayurbhanj district in Odisha to the United States of America added one more feather to the cap of the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), Bhubaneswar, the largest residential institute for the indigenous children, providing food, accommodation, healthcare and education from the KG to PG level to 20,000 tribal children absolutely free. Their journey from obscurity to prominence makes a unique case study to know the KISS and its endeavour.
Started as a protégé of the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), the KISS, over the years, has grown in stature proving emphatically that given scope, the underprivileged tribal children can even outshine everybody in every field. Be it winning the World Championship in Rugby in london or addressing the UN on the Malala Day or even interacting with the UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon through videoconferencing, children of the KISS have done it with aplomb. In preparing each one of them as a ‘Change Agent’, the KISS has proved that creation at an equitable world sans poverty, hunger and ignorance is possible.
Every child at the KISS has a fascinating story to tell. Each story speaks about the effort put in by the KISS management to empower the tribal kid through quality education and training.
The story of Bhutal Hansdah from Athapada Village in Khunta block of Mayurbhanj would move anybody to tears.
Orphaned along with three siblings, Bhutal spent his childhood in his maternal uncle’s place. His elder sister given to marriage became a widow untimely. Driven by acute poverty and ruined by the circumstances, Bhutal followed his siblings to Bhubaneswar where all three of them worked as daily labourers under a petty contractor. KISS volunteers spotted Bhutal and got him admitted in the KISS in 2010. Bhutal’s determination and interest to learn made him join the US-funded English Access Micro Scholarship Programme launched by the KISS only three months ago. Bhutal excelled in his studies to be selected through both written and viva voce examinations to visit the US to participate in the US Cultural Emersion Institute 2014.
It is not Bhutal alone; a tribal girl with similar socioeconomic conditions has also been selected to go to the US. Shantilata Murmu born at Panchugochhia village of Keonjhar district of Odisha had no better childhood than Bhutal. She was also working as a domestic help while her parents were daily labourers.
There could not have been any better example than these two to understand the way the KISS helps shape the future of the underprivileged, uncared for children of lesser Gods through education and education alone. It is indeed an incredible feat for the KISS students that they could compete with thousands from all over the country to find berths among the sixty selected participants from India and Pakistan for visiting the US for socio-cultural interactions with important people there.