By Heather Cecilia Phanwar for Smart Village Movement
Interns from Assam Don Bosco University during their field visit.
With over 4.33 crore students currently enrolled in higher education in India (AISHE 2021-22 ), times are changing. Internships are no longer optional credits. It is now mandatory to be part of every student’s curriculum, and the question is no longer whether students will intern, but where.
The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) has reshaped how the higher education system in India prepares students for their future. Under NEP 2020, every undergraduate student is encouraged to undertake meaningful, real-world experiential learning as part of their degree. This experience is in the form of internships which carry academic credits as per the student’s syllabus and curriculum.
SVM internship: Policy meets purpose
With Smart Village Movement’s internship programme, students are able to connect with rural communities and work on the ground. For decades, internships have largely been only in large organisations and companies where students get a glimpse of the 9-5 routine. While this gives students a peek into corporate life, it also leaves them stagnant with little room to grow or discover what they are capable of.
But this is changing now. With the NEP 2020 and University Grants Commission (UGC’s), Curriculum and Credit Framework for Undergraduate Programmes (CCFUP), students now have the opportunity for meaningful and real-world experience outside the four walls of the classroom.
For the Smart Village Movement, internship programmes have been at the forefront since 2021. SVM connects young people with communities that need them the most, welcoming interns from different educational backgrounds and enabling them to create a transformative impact in rural communities. India’s pool of young talent is enormous. If only a fraction of the students are placed for rural internships, this goes a long way of helping achieve what NEP 2020 and CCFUP have in mind for the overall development of the students.
On the ground in Meghalaya
Since SVM launched its internship programme in Meghalaya, a total of 35 students from 9 colleges have contributed to rural development in the state. Students have engaged directly with villagers and built rapport with them. They discover their capabilities, and in turn, communities develop trust in them. Development stops being something that happens to villages and starts being something that happens with them.
Rural internships offer something that no corporate internship can. Students experience the ground reality of what is actually happening and the challenges that they face first hand which goes hand in hand with what NEP is aiming for.
‘Working with the highly driven, but humble crowd at SVM has been an enriching experience. Having suggestions from an ‘intern’ heard, and seeing appropriate ones blossom to fruition is a huge boost to my professional credibility and skill. The most beautiful aspect (if I’m compelled to choose just one), would have to be the organization’s core reliance on out-of-the-box approaches! SVM’s model is the epitome of ‘open-innovation!’
Jovie Benson Lyngdoh (Intern from Christ University in 2022)
Jovie’s internship experience is a prime example of what open innovation looks like in practice. During his internship he brought his HR management skills and put it to good use. He helped in creating project reports for different verticals and provided overall organisational structures and streamlining inputs during his stay.
The State Lead who worked alongside him at the time, now an Adviser to Smart Village Movement, Tulenam Laloo recalls him as a highly focused presence who would be a fine asset to have around, someone whose contributions went well beyond what is typically expected of an intern.
International Student Internship
SVM believes in fostering real-world learning experiences for young people who are passionate about technology, sustainability and social impact. Roshan Gurjar, an Honorary Scholar at Westminster School, London, immersed himself in an experiential learning journey with SVM with a ground visit to our project sites in Meghalaya. He gained firsthand insights into innovative healthcare, education, and environmental solutions in rural India.
Inspired by the depth of impact these programs create, Roshan has been a Young Brand Ambassador in the UK for Smart Village Movement and successfully spread awareness and raised funds to help contribute for an SVM agriculture project. He also participated in a two-week online English communication workshop with 20 students from Mawngap District Christian Multipurpose Higher Secondary School.
The live interactive sessions helped the students to build confidence and connect more meaningfully with the world beyond their village. Through this global learning platform, students have the opportunity to engage in speaking English with a mentor or learning peer from another country. The classes have not only helped the students improve their English language skills but also gain more confidence in public speaking and everyday communication with their peers.
For Roshan, the experience went far beyond delivering lessons. Using tongue twisters, dingbats, storytelling, and a whole-class debate, he watched students who had started the programme sharing their interests in technology and science begin asking, by the end, how they could continue learning languages. Some even expressed interest in French, Italian, and Japanese. The final presentations stayed with him most. He had expected one or two students to volunteer, but every single student stood up to share something, from original poems and stories to heartfelt messages of gratitude, and a rendition of Ed Sheeran’s Photograph that no one in the room forgot.
‘My internship with the Smart Village Movement has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Creating and teaching an online English programme for students in rural Meghalaya was a genuine privilege, and watching their confidence grow with every lesson was immensely gratifying. I’m incredibly grateful to Smart Village Movement for this opportunity, and I’m really looking forward to seeing where my journey with SVM takes me next.’
Roshan Gurjar, an Honorary Scholar at Westminster School, London
What the policy says
NEP 2020 states that students at all Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) must be provided opportunities for internships with local industry, businesses, arts, and community organizations specifically with rural and grassroots organizations.
The UGC’s CCFUP mandates internship as an integral and essential component of the degree, carrying formal academic credits. Students are required to participate in work experience or professional activity with an entity external to their educational institution, under expert supervision. The framework explicitly includes government organizations, NGOs, community cooperatives, R&D labs, and social enterprises as valid internship-providing organizations.
The internship program built by Smart Village Movement aligns with NEP’s vision. Students are able to fulfil their mandatory internship requirements while contributing meaningful work. . Interns are under expert supervision and are assigned different tasks everyday. They are entrusted with meaningful responsibilities, enabling them to grow professionally while creating tangible outcomes for the communities they serve.
About SVM: The Smart Village Movement (SVM), in collaboration with UC Berkeley’s Center for Growth Markets, is a non-profit organisation working to foster sustainable socio-economic development in rural communities across India. SVM offers structured, credit-compliant internship programmes aligned with NEP 2020 and UGC guidelines. To learn more about interning with SVM, visit smartvillagemovement.org.