SOCIALLY USEFUL PRODUCTIVE WORK AND COMMUNITY

SERVICE

Emphasis should be placed on work practice and pupils are interested, can be brought to the school
classroom discussions in these classes. A component campus to address and motivate the pupils. The
of Contemporary Studies may be correlated with Heads of the higher secondary schools can be
SUPW. trained in different areas and they can train their
teachers in their own schools in motivating the
Extract from Learning to Do Towards a Learning and pupils, planning the programmes, carrying out
Working Society. Report of the National Review and evaluating them. The teachers should be 'all
Committee on Higher Secondary Education” with purpose' guides for the effective participation of
special reference to vocationalisation. pupils in the programme.

The objectives, sample plan of work and the mode of 3. The Project areas for SUPW can be selected
operations of the part of the curriculum (SUPW) to according to the convenience of each school, its
be executed by the teachers and the students are location, rural or urban, its background and
briefly set forth in the following paragraphs. experiences. More particularly the selection of
1. Socially useful productive work (SUPW) which the area will depend on:
is of a practical nature and undertaken under (a) Nearness of the area to the school;
appropriate supervision and planning, will help
achieve, inter alia, the following objectives: (b) Co-operation of the selected community; and
(c) Understanding the locally available
(a) Inculcation of positive attitudes to work in programme.
the students; While selecting the area, the teachers should
(b) Identifying themselves with the community understand the extent of co-operation of the
by rendering Social and Community Service; community and its interest in the welfare
(c) Development of the habit of co-operative programmes. The project area should be one
work; where resources for the activities can be easily
mobilised, because the school and pupils cannot
(d) Making the community conscious of spend on transport or expensive programmes.
scientific advancements and help it develop a Simple projects can be taken up by the pupils
scientific outlook; with the available resources and which are within
(e) Learning to apply one's classroom and the capacity of the pupils involved. The
vocationalised knowledge to solve day-to- participation of the local people in all stages of
day problems of the community; the programme, is a must for the success of the
(f) Participation in nation building activities; and programme.

(g) Realization of the goals of the state and 4. In planning a programme, the following
national development. decisions are important: What is to be done, who
will do it, for what it is, when and how it will be
2. To develop proper attitude towards rural done. If the planning is to be successful, all the
development and community service, the pupils following components must be considered:
at the higher secondary education level must be
(a) Baseline surveylocating needs and resources;
provided motivation and training opportunities.
They should be given orientation training for 4-5 (b) Giving priorities to the needs;
days in social service, understand its meaning, (c) Outlining the programme;
method and outcomes, and the means of (d) Conducting the programme;
developing rapport with the local community.
(e) Concluding the programme.
The connected people, in the fields in which

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A simple survey should be conducted by the of the people, programmes can be outlined for
pupils in their selected project areas, to help the specified period of work (two years) in the
them to understand the needs of the people, the community. Annual work plans can be
resources available in the area, and decide what prepared by the teachers as a guidepost for both
could be done by them. With the help of all the the teachers and the students. A sample plan on
teachers in the school, and based on the needs a savings campaign is given below.

A Sample Plan of Work (Savings Campaign)

Week Purpose Methods Persons to be Place to be adopted

Involved
I Contacting the village Home Visits. Pupils, teachers and Individual houses.
leaders and people. local leaders.

II Baseline survey to Interview Homemakers, teachers Individual houses.

learn the income and and pupils.
&
expenditure and
III savings pattern in the
area.
IV Introduce the need and Group meetings, People, District, Community hall or
method of savings. charts, posters and Savings Officer. Pupils School.
exhibits. and teachers.
V Explaining various Home visits, Group Pupils and teachers Individual houses.
methods of savings. discussion with charts Gram Sevikas and
and pamphlets Gram Sevaks
VI Helping them to reach Field visits, Postmaster, leaders in Post Office.
the Post office. Discussions, the community, pupils
Demonstrations. and teachers.
VII Educating the people Lecture-cum- Representative from School.
on Bank Saving. Discussion. nearby bank, pupils
and teachers.
VIII Helping people to go Field Visits, Interested people, Bank.
to the bank and open Discussion. Bank Manager, Pupils
savings accounts. and teachers.
IX Educating the people Lecture-cum- Small Scale Industries Community Hall.
in economic Discussion. Officer, Pupils and
improvement Teachers.
X Starting simple Demonstration. Pupils, Teachers. Community Hall and
income-generating Concerned People. individual houses.
programmes.
XI Follow-up (continued). All methods and Concerned people. Appropriate places.
techniques.

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5. Utilization of available infrastructure for the (k) Conducting programmes in balwari (games
planning, execution and evaluation of the and music);
programmes is important in order also to (l) Coaching children;
minimise the expenditure and effort. The teachers
should know the infrastructure available and be (m) Adult literacy;
aware as to how to make use of them for the (n) Camps in the adopted area.
success of the programme. The infrastructure Students who are pursuing language studies
available for the welfare of the community is: should take up Adult Education under Socially
1. District Collectorate Useful Productive Work.
2. Panchayat Union 7. The Socially Useful Productive Work should, as
3. Village Panchayat far as possible, be allied to the electives chosen
by the students, allowing also for any other kind
4. Elementary School
of work depending upon the facilities available in
5. Primary Health Centre the neighbourhood. The students who are
6. Municipality studying Home Science may, for instance, work
7. Small Savings Organisation with the community for improvement of the
8. Field Publicity Office nutritional status of the population, utilising the
local products for developing cheap and
9. Sarvodaya Sangh wholesome diets. The students of Chemistry
10.Local Organisations, such as, Parent may undertake useful work of soil fertilisers and
Teachers' Association and Service Clubs - water, removal of pollution, utilisation of wastes,
such as, Rotary, Lion's, Jaycees and others. etc. Those of Physics may similarly work on
To get the assistance and co-operation of those rural electrification, improvement of small and
who make up this infrastructure, they should be cottage industries, etc. Biology students may
apprised and involved at all the stages of the serve in primary health centres and promote other
programme development - from the planning, health measures or help farmers, horticulturists,
through execution to evaluation. etc., for improving productivity. Political
Science students may work with Panchayat
6. The programmes selected must be suitable to the
Administration, local bodies, etc., for purposes of
age level and competencies of the pupils and the
improving various services to the community.
needs of the community. Both general types of
productive programmes and specific productive The above are illustrations of the kind of Socially
projects related to the subject matter of each Useful Productive Work which the students, pursuing
student can be undertaken. The following academic studies, may undertake. Obviously, there
general programmes can be undertaken by all the are many more areas that can be tackled in one's own
pupils irrespective of their subjects (electives) of environment. A list of certain subject matter related
study: activities is set forth:
(a) Fact finding; (1) Indian Languages
(b) Tree Planting; (i) Writing short stories and skits.
(c) Cleanliness and Sanitation; (ii) Developing leadership qualities and through
education debates.
(d) Deepening ponds, construction of contour-
bounds, community halls, road laying; (iii) Developing artistic tendency - painting,
drawing and other fine arts.
(e) Small Savings Drive;
(iv) Promoting national integration.
(f) Health and Nutrition Education;
(v) Encouraging them to read newspapers -
(g) Celebration of National Days and festivals; knowledge about current affairs.
(h) Organising film shows; (vi) Adult literacy and adult education.
(i) Organising libraries/book banks and mobile (vii) Coaching school children.
laboratories;
(j) Hospital work;
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(2) History (iii) Teaching how we receive sound from the
(i) Dramatisation programmes. radio which is relayed from the Radio
Station.
(ii) Screening historical films.
(iv) Preparing hot water with the help of solar
(iii) Publication of historical leaflets and
heat or energy.
booklets.
(v) Giving knowledge about how to produce
(iv) Organisation of exhibitions of historical
artificial rain.
value.
(vi) Teaching how to get electricity from water
(v) Debates and oratorical competitions as
and steam.
regards the political set up of the country.
(vii) Giving basic knowledge about how to
(vi) Discussions and utilisation of local
operate the machines like washing machine,
resources.
grinding-machine, electric cookers, etc.
(vii) Encouraging the pupils to adopt such
(viii)Giving knowledge about how sound is
hobbies as are of educational value.
produced from various sound instruments.
(3) Geography
(6) Chemistry
(i) Radio broadcasts on weather conditions.
(i) Preparation of soap and washing soda.
(ii) Making the villagers to understand the radio
(ii) Explaining the uses of Dettol and Phenyl for
broadcasts.
cleanliness.
(iii) Working models of volcanoes and
(iii) Preparation of tincture and simple ointments
earthquakes.
for wounds.
(iv) Survey work of the lands and roads.
(iv) Preparation of dyes.
(v) Attending the Panchayat Union Meetings
(v) Explaining the preparation of bleaching
and discussions.
powder.
(4) Mathematics (vi) Explaining the equipping techniques and use
(i) Encouraging the pupils to learn mathematics of gobar gas plant in the houses making use
by pointing out its use in the world at of animal waste.
present. (vii) Explaining the uses and preparation of
(ii) Helping the adults and unemployed to run a ammonium nitrate.
co-operative store selling goods at
(viii) Explaining the fixation of nitrogen.
controlled price.
(ix) Explaining the uses of insecticides.
(iii) Teaching them to make toys with simple
models like triangles, spheres etc. (x) Demonstrating the method of purifying
water.
(iv) Helping them to discriminate between
British units, and the metric system. (7) Biology
(v) Helping them to be aware of the units and (i) Helping the farmers to get rid of insect
measurements so that they cannot be pests.
cheated in shops. This can be done by (ii) Learning methods of vegetative
actually showing the weights, scales and propagation.
meter scale. (iii) Introducing modern techniques of
(5) Physics incubation in poultry.
(i) Giving basic knowledge about how to (iv) Practicing the way of getting uniform
prevent electric shock accidents. fruiting and blossoming through simple
(ii) Giving knowledge about how lightning and techniques using chemicals (Hormones).
thunder occur and what are the uses of (v) Leathering of economically important
lightning and thunder and the thunder animals.
arrester. (vi) Making students aware of economic
Zoology.
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 (vii) Providing knowledge on crop rotation. ASSESSMENT
(viii) Making students aware of the various (CLASSES XI AND XII)
sources of nitrogen manure in the form of Evaluation is an important aspect of planning and
nitrogen yielding plants (legumes) and execution of the Socially Useful Productive Work
easily available cultures to increase the (including Community Services and an optional
yield. component of Contemporary Studies) programme in
(ix) Making students aware of contamination. schools. From the beginning of the programme each
(8) Home Science step needs evaluation. An illustrative guide to the
(i) Raising a kitchen garden. areas of assessment and weightage to be given is
contained in the following paragraphs.
(ii) Helping the rural people to have poultry units
and to do bee keeping. 1. Selection of Socially Useful Productive Work
(iii) Organising rural balwari. (including Community Service and an
optional component of Contemporary Studies)
(iv) Low-cost nutritious food-demonstration.
Candidates will be required to select one craft
(v) Improving arts and crafts. and one service per year of preparation for the
(vi) Make use of compost pits. Examination, i.e. Classes XI and XII. In addition,
(vii) Pest control measures. candidates may also select topics under
(viii) Nutrition education through various games. Contemporary Studies per year of preparation for
the Examination.
8. Fifteen per cent of the working time is to be spent
for Socially Useful Productive Work. It amounts 2. Internal Assessment
to about 150 hours a year. The 150 hours can be The Internal Assessment will consist of
distributed throughout the year according to the assessment in (a) Socially Useful Productive
convenience of schools. Sometimes, if it is
Work (b) Community Service (c) Contemporary
impossible to give them every week, a stretch of
Studies (if opted by candidates). The work
several hours could be given during the year, for a
camp. But continuity should be assured in the undertaken by the candidates during the two-year
work. Many adjustments have to be made in the preparation period in each year will be assessed
school timetable to give the students and teachers and marked out of 100.
free time to go to the work spot. The timings 3. Socially Useful Productive Work
suitable for the students must also fit in with the
timings of the people in the programme area. (i) This will be taken to mean work practice in
After the two-year's programme, even when a craft. In contrast to community service it
particular batch of students completes its courses implies the making of articles of social use or
and leaves, the school should plan for follow-up practice of a skill.
programmes in the areas, by subsequent batches of (ii) The areas of assessment of Socially Useful
students. Productive Work may be classified as
9. The Heads of the institutions should nominate a follows: Marks
senior teacher to be in charge and co-ordinate the
entire programme for the school and guide the (1) Preparation 10
teacher-in-charge. All teachers in the school (2) Organisation 20
would be guiding the students of their own class (3) Skills 40
in all aspects of the programme – planning,
execution and evaluation. The Heads of the (4) Research 20
institutions should scrutinize the records and (5) Interest 10
registers maintained by the students, teachers and (iii) Preparation: It is important to select a craft
teacher-in-charge (coordinator) of the programme. which is socially useful and within the
The work of the coordinator should be counted in candidates' capabilities. It may be necessary
the workload of the teacher. to visit localities where certain crafts are
practiced and note details of the processes or
methods involved.

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 (iv) Organisation: The candidates should be able (vii) Interest: This is an assessment of the
to explain in writing the tools, materials and candidate’s industriousness, constancy and
processes required as well as draw up a conscientiousness with regard to the work
timetable/programme of work. undertaken. The candidates should be able to
(v) Skills: The manipulative skills of the adhere to the timetable/programme of work
candidates should be assessed regularly from drawn up by them.
the finished product(s) and should include (viii)Record card: This should be kept for each
the candidates' abilities to follow the candidate and the assessment of Socially
processes or methods of the craft. Useful Productive Work entered in it. A
(vi) Research: This is the candidate’s ability to specimen of the record card is given below
analyse a process or method and for guidance.
suggest/implement improvements as also
improvise wherever necessary.

NAME OF THE SCHOOL

Internal Assessment Card for Socially Useful Productive Work
Name of Candidate:__________________________________________________________________________
Craft/Skill:_________________________________________________________________________________

ASSESSMENT RECORD
Date of Assessment Areas of Assessment
Preparation Organisation Skills Research Interest
Grade Points Grade Points Grade Points Grade Points Grade Points

INTERPRETATION OF GRADES
Grade Standard
A Very Good
B Good
C Satisfactory
D Fair
E Unsatisfactory (Fail)

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4. Community Service Parents should be asked to give each
(i) This will be taken to mean work done in the child a job of work to do, which will last
home, school and outside, which is beneficial between 20 minutes to half an hour each
to the community. day.
(ii) The areas of assessment of Community (b) A diary should be kept for each child in
Service may be as under: which the parents enter this every day:
Marks (i) Nature of work;
(1) Preparation 10 (ii) Time allotted;
(2) Organisation 20 (iii) Remark of the parent;
(3) Skills 40 (iv) Signature of the parent.
(4) Resourcefulness 20 Thus, it will be possible for the school to
(5) Interest 10 ensure that children do at least three and
half-hours of Socially Useful Productive
(iii) Preparation: It is important to select a Work and Community Service, per week.
service that will be beneficial to the
community. It may be necessary to form (c) The number of hours as far as the Social
teams or squads and to select a leader. Service is concerned in the case of day
scholars, will then be within the home
(iv) Organisation is the knowledge of the tools, and the neighbourhood and may rightly
materials and methods/processes by which be termed 'Homework'.
the work can be done, and the ability to draw
up a timetable, or programme of work. The remarks to be entered by the parent
should be specified so that they may be
(v) Skills are the manipulative skills of doing the converted into grades.
work. The quality of the candidate’s work
should be assessed. (d) A suggested five points "remarks" scale
is given below:
(vi) Resourcefulness is the ability to complete the
A -Very Good
work in spite of problems and difficulties and
to improvise wherever necessary. B -Good
(vii) Interest is the assessment of the candidate’s C -Satisfactory
constancy, industriousness and D -Fair
conscientiousness in doing the work and their E - Unsatisfactory (Fail)
abilities to adhere to the timetable, or (e) The class teacher should be required to
programme of work drawn up by them. enter the "grades" in a special register
(viii)A record card on the lines suggested for against each child.
Socially Useful Productive Work should be 4. Contemporary Studies
kept.
Pupils are to be provided a general appreciation
(ix) A practical scheme for day schools is given of the topics given with a view to cultivate and
below: inculcate values promoting sustainable societal
(a) In the case of day-schools, parents should practices. Assessment will be done on the basis
be involved in making their children of participation in class discussions. Grades may
aware of their responsibilities in the be awarded as for SUPW.
home and to persons in the area in which 6. Submission of SUPW and Community Service
they live. They should be encouraged to Grades
render service in the home and to their
neighbours. Such service may take the Heads of schools will be responsible for correct
form of helping parents in cleaning the entry of the SUPW (including Community
house, making the beds, assisting in the Service) and Contemporary Studies (optional)
kitchen, cleaning the backyard, helping result of each candidate in terms of the Grades A,
in the garden, visiting the sick, teaching a B, C, D or E.
child, or children in the neighbourhood, The grades must be submitted online through
and so on. the Council’s CAREERS portal within the
Experiments should be tried in every stipulated due date.
school in which there are day scholars.

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 CONTEMPORARY STUDIES (OPTIONAL)
(Recommended to form a component of SUPW)

The aim of this section is to provide to all students (iii) To understand the inter-relationships of
the ability to comprehend social transformations and development in the country, in the region and at
develop in them the ability to utilize knowledge and the international levels in commerce, trade and
skills to effectively address emerging opportunities. socio-political areas.
The student should learn: (iv) To develop a challenging attitude to act on the
(i) To analyse concepts and practices within social and environmental matters in order to
socio-economic, political contexts in the society. introduce change for a sustainable social order.
(ii) To critically examine and evaluate various (v) To appreciate the conflicts of interests between
development strategies and experiences so as to social political organizations at the national and
be able to generate a viewpoint of their own. international levels and develop a
comprehensive appraisal of their impact on the
individual.

CLASS XI

1. Emergence of new Society • What measures can we take to mitigate or

combat these changes?
• 'Greens' and ‘Culture Creatives’.
3. Equity, Equality, Social justice
• Emerging trends in modern society:
• Constitutional provisions.
Organic Foods
Vegetarianism • Present political aspirations.

Feminism • Social imbalances.

Decline of the industrial age practices • Perspectives promoting sustainable society.

Netizens 4. The Energy Debate

• Impact of burning fossil fuel on environment.
2. Atmosphere and Climate change
• Future of nuclear energy.
• What is the “greenhouse gas effect” and
which are the “greenhouse gases”? • Scope of fuel conservation.
• Is global warming man-made? 5. Reaching Out

• What are the likely consequences of global Types of communication networks and their
warming? utility – e-mail, facsimile, video conferencing;
understanding of the Internet as a global
• What other climate changes are taking knowledge base and communication network.
places?

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 CLASS XII
1. Understanding the New World Order 3. Science and Technology
• Spirituality, Science and Society:
• Animal and human aggression:
(i) The co-relation and need for balanced
appreciation for sustainable social order. (i) Human and non-human signals of
(ii) The emergence of higher consciousness aggression.
and higher spiritual commitments for (ii) Weapons devised by man for offence and
meaningful living. defence.
(iii) Scientific dimensions of spirituality.
(iii) Nuclear weapons, control on weapons
(iv) Emerging society promoting manufacture, sale to foreign powers.
contradictions and paradoxes.
(iv) Technology - does it make war more or
less likely?
• North-South dialogue:
(i) Unequal distribution of economic wealth. • Science and Technology as change agents:
(ii) Exploitation of world governance; (i) Effect of scientific developments on our
instruments for enhancing the North- lives - at work and at home.
South divide. (ii) Business on net – e-commerce, its
(iii) Labour practices in the creation of feasibility and implications.
wealth. Child labour, women labour,
bonded labour. Low wages and economic • Cosmology and space research:
activity in India and a selected western (i) Current theories about the origins of the
country. universe.
(iv) Towards practices enhancing (ii) Probability of existence of Extra
sustainability of world trade practices. Terrestrial Intelligence.
• United Nation’s declaration for the rights of
women, minorities and the child. • Emergence of new technologies and their
appreciation:
A critical understanding of the enshrined
articles related to child, women and minorities (i) Non-Digital and Digital technology.
rights. (ii) Communication technology.

2. Building People (iii) Information technology.

• Privatisation vs Nationalization. • Biodiversity, Genetic Engineering and

Cloning.
• The need for governments to govern and
leave economic activities to the people; role • Ecology, exploitation of natural resources.
of NGOs. • Interdependence of species and ecosystem and
• Generation of financial resources to meet consequences of disturbing this equilibrium.
governmental expenses.
4. Dilemmas
• Impact of privatisation on economic
development with specific reference to • Patent Laws and their implications.
Insurance, Telecommunications, Railways • Intellectual copyrights - ethical and moral
and Electricity. dimensions.

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