I have pasted a quote by Andrew Shue, an American actor, on my soft board. It reads, “Community service has taught me all kinds of skills and increased my confidence. You go out there and think on your feet, work with others and create something from nothing. That’s what life’s all about.” Not surprisingly, I have students coming to me every now and then asking, “What kind of skills does one acquire by doing community work?”; “Does it really teach you about life?”; “Will community service help me become independent and land a good job?” And thus a long discussion commences, in which young, enthusiastic and high-potential citizens of tomorrow look for answers about employment, competencies and life in general.

While many educationists believe that voluntary service plays a pivotal role in students’ learning, some, however, are of the opinion that it weighs as an unnecessary burden on students as it distracts their attention, occupies a lot of their time due to which their grades plummet and exposes them to the world unattended by the parents, siblings and teachers. Is this really the case? So far, there isn’t any statistical data available to support this opinion; nevertheless, anecdotal evidence indicates that community service opens new and exciting vistas for students which would otherwise remain unexplored.

Maira Rehman, 17, is a college student. She is studying in pre-medical and has recently completed voluntary community service at Civil Hospital and Bait-ul-Sukoon Cancer Hospital in Karachi. She manifests a favourable disposition towards community work and comments, “Voluntary work gave me know-how of the way things work in a hospital. I learnt that doctors need to operate briskly and responsibly in life and death situations. I saw operations taking place and felt compassion for the patients being transferred to ICUs. This voluntary work has reinforced my desire to become a doctor and serve humanity. The experience has also helped me remember biological processes that I am taught at college. I feel I can now relate better to what my teacher explains in the classroom.”

Voluntary community work, as very rightly pointed out by Mr Shue, helps individuals in gaining confidence and a number of soft skills. When one’s parents, siblings or teachers aren’t around, he/she is bound to stand up on his/her own legs, hence becoming brave and confident by confronting various situations and circumstances alone in the process. Students interact with the community people, learn about their problems and look for pragmatic solutions. It instills in them a spirit of active citizenship and a sense of civic accountability. Volunteer work satisfies the need of achievement and recognition among students. They discover their true capabilities and competencies when they step out into the ‘real’ world and many begin working on the diverse skills set they require to prosper in today’s cutting-edge job market.

Voluntary work teaches students numerous things that books can’t. It teaches business studies students management and organisation of work deliverables while for sociology students, social work is perhaps the best way to learn and practically experience how people interact, act and react. Similarly, by managing accounts and finances of social services projects, accounting and finance students get hands-on practice of dealing with monetary matters and so on. It is interesting to know that most schools in Canada encourage students to complete 40 hours of volunteer work as one of the requirements by their education ministry to obtain their high school diploma. Some high schools in Washington need students to serve 200 hours of community work to receive a diploma while in Australian schools students undertake minimum of 20 hours of community service as a part of their curriculum. When students around the world can serve innumerable hours of community work, why can’t our students do the same?

Mrs Sabohi, a college and university teacher, motivates her students to immensely benefit from voluntary services opportunities. She affirms, “There is a wide-spread conjecture that voluntary community work is wastage of time. Many students hesitate in spending after school hours volunteering at a local hospital, government school or a public welfare organisation, and the teachers are given the hard task of convincing them. These students are unaware that volunteerism is a personal investment. They do not realise that they can learn significant skills like team work, stress management, decision-making, communication and most of all effective leadership — which our country needs the most through community work. Students unleash their hidden potentials when they tackle with diverse situations; it looks good on their college applications and resumes and it may even help them in deciding their future careers.”

Besides, community work is vital in bringing about a social change. It develops sympathy and empathy among citizens and they begin looking out for each other. The recent rains in Pakistan have left many shelterless, ill and stranded out of their home towns. Has any community member voluntarily stepped forward to help them? Has any community hospital offered free medical assistance or has any local shop put forth free or discounted edibles for the affectees? Hardly any. This is solely because we lack compassion. We lack bonding and are concerned about ourselves most of the time. We do not support our fellow citizens in their hour of need. Let’s face it, ever since childhood we haven’t seen many of our elders, siblings or other community people helping each other. We hadn’t paid much attention to social services 10 years back when we were in school, college and university. Our parents weren’t very supportive of the idea of educating a street child saying he/she will be a bad influence. As a consequence, we’ve transformed into a nation where citizens care about themselves only.

The only way to grow out of this selfishness is to inculcate a desire among our next generation to contribute to society with commitment and dedication. Social change will not come overnight as the damage is quite deep and severe. However, at least we will raise a generation which is aware and involved in voluntary community work. And the most appropriate places to introduce and advertise voluntary prospects are our schools, colleges and universities.

The writer is a career advisor at a local institution.