The Wizard turning Adversity into Opportunity
Philosopher, Psychologist and Education Reformer John Dewey quoted, “Education is not preparation for life; education is life.” Education can bring a person’s goals and dreams to life – a belief that explains why families work so hard to put their children through school. High tuition fees, daily needs such as food, transportation and books makes it a huge challenge for parents to enroll their children for higher education. Despite these challenges parents do not allow their struggles to dictate their aspirations for their kid’s education. Amidst many stories of adversity while pursuing education there is Lead College of Management weaving dreams of young minds breaking through the shortcomings.
Lead College of Management (LCM) - Leadership Entrepreneurship Academy Dhobi, was established in 2011 with the sole purpose of providing education to the needy and training them into leaders. For an institute to offer a two year MBA degree together with academics, food, lodging and every other expense covered on campus for the sum of Rs. 4 lakh is nothing short of a boon. This has been made possible by Dr. Thomas George K, Founder & Chairman, Lead College of Management. Since 80 percent of the students of LCM come from financially unstable families, setting such an affordable amount as tuition fees allows families to breathe a sigh of relief. “Without an agenda to derive profit out of the establishment, the sole purpose of Lead is to let the dreams of our students flourish through pursuing higher education,” shares Dr. George.
The specialty of LCM lies not only in acquiring the UGC or AICTE prescribed regulations and directions to run the institute but also in having a sustainable pedagogy of learning in a bigger prospective. This pedagogy of learning is of creating the best of opportunities and a space needed for the transformation of a mere individual to a leader of a kind. Speaking of which we came across 12 clubs the institute has formed all managed by the students. Leadography, OBT, CSR & Tuitions are some of the clubs exercising unique essence guiding the young minds. “We have no guards or wardens supervising the students in our campus. Instead, we let the students themselves be capable of managing themselves without any supervision,” adds Dr. Thomas.
Under these clubs, activities such as managing and cleaning the canteen and the campus, buildings houses for nearby schedule tribes and facilitate them with the bare necessities have brought pride to the institute. Another club known as Leadography is responsible for making documentation of the various projects and events involved with the institute. These documentations keeps record of the events but most importantly encourage responsibility and hone extracurricular skills. Apart from all such activities the Out Born Training (OBT) provides them experiences of mountaineering, trekking and altogether induce their leadership quality to a great extend.
These clubs are highly considered as the backbone of the institute. However to have the same working in order the faculty members and staff members have been highly appreciated by Dr. Thomas. Having 26 faculty members to 300 students obtaining student-faculty ratio of 12:1, each of them stands strong in their academic and industrial expertise. The faculty members maintain a balance in academics and extracurricular activities of the students by mentoring each student in person and providing with their own space to grow. Every student is assigned a faculty who mentors them in their shortcoming throughout two years in the campus.
The placement cell provides necessary training to enable them with both soft skills. Notable organizations such as Amul, Nestle, KPMG, IDBI, ICICI Prudential have recruited LEAD’s students at annual packages of Rs. 2.4 – Rs. 6 lakh. Obtaining 90 percent placement records so far the founder boasts about the strong alumni relation irrespective of graduating only two batches where the alumni themselves act as mentors sharing their experiences to the younger batches of Lead.
Working on the research activities and undergoing inspection by NAAC currently, the institute has already obtained a number of MOU’s with Kanjikode Industrial Forum, Palghat Business Association, KIPCO- Kerela Industrial Promotion Council and eight other organizations in the state and international collaborations in Nigeria, Bhutan and Japan. Projects with Malabar Cement Company for marketing scheme, handwash projects with Habitat, and setting up CCD training centre under NSDC are some of the newest undertakings of Lead College of Management.
Having seen all the afore mentioned activities inside the Lead campus one can witness the power of dreams and aspirations over adversities of life. Seeking more acceptability according to the industrial needs, Dr. Thomas mentions a future plan of setting up of the institute’s own industry where in except regular staffs student will be running it themselves in each department comparing the same with any medical institute which has a hospital for the students to practice once after the completion of the medical degree. He says, “To create a masterpiece, the sculptor requires the synchronization of his thoughts and his skills,” and this industry would serve the base of their skills synchronized to create the masterpiece- their career.
Dr. Thomas George K
Dr. George has a B. Tech (Electronics and Communication), M. Sc. (Applied Psychology), MBA from Calicut University and Ph.D in Psychology. Before establishing Lead College of Management, he has been associated with ‘Turning Point’, a training program for youth since 2000. He has many awards on his name such as Palghat Management Association’s, Edupreneur of the Year Award, 2016, NFED’s Distinguished Entrepreneur Award, 2015 and NIPM’s Best Institution Builder Award.
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