Education for SDGs in the wider community
Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) operationalizes education for sustainable development through structured outreach, field programs, and media-based literacy campaigns that benefit over 10,000 community members annually. The Department of Community Medicine, KMC Manipal, organized 168 outreach camps in 2024, including 91 cancer screening and 50 pediatric RBSK camps, reaching 2,900 women and 1,700 children from tribal and migrant communities. The Family Adoption Program, mandated by the National Medical Commission, engages students with 3,200 families across six villages for ongoing health monitoring and education. MAHE’s Rural Maternity and Child Welfare Homes (RMCWH) serve 40,000 residents in eight villages, providing maternal and child health education to underserved fishing communities (KMC Manipal Outreach Activities).
The Community Radio Station - Radio Manipal (90.4 MHz) amplifies SDG education through weekly broadcasts on maternal health, climate action, cancer prevention, and genetic counselling, reaching over 50,000 listeners in Udupi district (Community Radio Manipal Reports). Additional outreach initiatives such as the School Health Programme 2024, conducted jointly by departments of Nursing, Dentistry, and Optometry, screened 74 students for dental and vision problems while integrating climate-linked vector disease awareness (School Health Programme 2024 Report). The Slum Education and Health Visit (2024) engaged 80 residents of Indrali slum, providing hygiene education, literacy activities, and health kits (Slum Visit Program 2024 Report). Projects like the Eco Femme-TAPMI sustainable menstrual hygiene campaign trained 350 adolescent girls on reusable cloth pads, blending research with community education.
MAHE’s outreach also includes nutrition, lifestyle, and mental health education programs such as National Nutrition Week 2024, World Flu Day hygiene education, and the Arogya Vani Kannada-language newspaper column, extending regional literacy on diet, sanitation, and preventive health. Student-led initiatives like Rotaract’s “Dhwani – A Sound of Inspiration” (2024) and art-based mental health workshops with NGO Mind Matter promote youth leadership and emotional resilience (Rotaract Club of Manipal Activities). Globally, the MAHE Dubai Campus conducted World Food Day 2024 outreach in collaboration with the UAE Food Bank, integrating food security and sustainability education across schools (LinkedIn - MAHE Dubai World Food Day). Collectively, these programs exemplify how MAHE transforms academic expertise into public empowerment, creating a scalable model of community-centred education for sustainable development that advances SDGs 3, 4, 11, and 17.