What happens behind this door?
Today the "Don Bosco College" in Yellagiri offers university education to more than 1000 young people. Almost 500 of them live inside: the boys in the boarding house animated by the Salesians, and the girls in the one followed by the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. The courses offered cover the following areas: English, Computer Science, Applied Computer Science, Economics and Commerce, Management Engineering and Mathematics, plus Postgraduate degrees in Computer Science and English. Inside the campus there is also an internal company, specialized in the study of new programs and patents in the field of IT, which produces an income with which the life of the institute is partly supported.
What is so special about "Yellagiri College"?
The majority of our students come from the three regions with the lowest economic and socio-cultural development in this part of the country. Most of their parents have had no chance to attend school. Almost half of our students receive a scholarship and some even a scholarship to cover the costs of food and lodging. What is offered through the institute is a chance, a possibility, of obtaining high-level training, from which otherwise this segment of the population would be completely excluded. The goal is to combine the best of education to the need for help of the poorest categories by focusing on the most precious resource of each family: their children. The children will be the most effective factors of development.
In addition to seeking funds for activities, what are the biggest challenges you find yourselves facing?
To economic hardships, other forms of hardship are often associated. Educators, as well as being professionals, must also be very skilled at inter-personal skills and educational relationships. There is also a good team for psychological support. Undoubtedly, spiritual accompaniment, both of Christians and of those belonging to other religions, is not left in the background, but is open to the values of the Gospel. Only an integral education allows us to obtain good and long-lasting results.
