Mission Education.
A living example of what a person with strong determination can achieve. The founder of KIIT and KISS with sheer determination, created the best quality educational facility for almost 50,000 poor and unprivileged students within a span on 20 years.
Born in India’s one of the poorest state Orissa, Achyuta Samanta, lost his father at the age of four; along with six other siblings he spent his childhood in acute poverty. With utmost sincerity and determination he finished his education, earning a master’s degree in chemistry then Ph.D. got him a job as lecturer in a university in India.
With the income as a lecturer life was comfortable for him. The memory of childhood struggle for survival and education, lingered with him and he was obsessed with the idea ‘education empowers’. He began to look forward empowering the hapless young children of his society. For the people around him he wanted the world without hunger, poverty and ignorance. He dreamed of a world where poverty would not stand as a hindrance to one’s education.
With the savings of Rs. 5000, Dr. Samanta started an Industrial Training Institute in 1993 in a rented premise of two rooms, with 12 students, in Orissa state of India. Later renamed as Kalingana Institute of Industrial Training – KIIT today has spread over 80 acres, grown into 20 independent campuses with 10 million square feet of built up area.
To empower the marginalized poorest of poor tribal children with school education, he started Kalingana Institute of Social Sciences. He started this school in 1993 in an area surrounding KIIT, providing free education with free lodging and boarding facilities. This endeavor has grown today into mammoth school providing free education, lodging and boarding to some 25,000 tribal children.
In 2004 KIIT was granted university status. Today this university offers courses in all branches of engineering, management, computer applications, mass communications, law, medical sciences, nursing, dental science, bio–technology, humanity, languages, fashion, films, fine arts, leadership to rural management. It has a strength of more than 20000 students from India and abroad.
Dr. Samantha is a social entrepreneur who rather than complaining about the situation, he took the problem in hand, invented new approaches and create opportunities.
Find more details at:
http://www.achyutasamanta.com/
http://www.kiss.ac.in/video/all.html
http://www.kiit.ac.in/video/overview.html
