Swachh Bharat Summer Internship Programme: An Opportunity of Community Based Service Learning Practice for Medical Students in India

Aim: “Swachh Bharat Summer Internship programme” is an initiative of Indian government to involve the youth of the country for cleanliness activity in the community. It was utilized by MBBS students of a university in Bathinda, India as a source of opportunity for community medicine learning and service in the community. Materials and Methods: A mixed method study was planned in the month of June 2019 to assess attitude of the community towards solid and liquid waste disposal, provide community service related with this and arrange health education sessions for waste disposal. Nukkad natak, focus group discussion and video clipping were used to educate community and data were collected. Cleaning of roads and market area were done as service to the community. Feedback from the community about different activities and from the students about the whole programme was collected & analyzed. Results: Findings of the study have shown that villagers had a huge interest for different newer methods which were utilized for community health educational session. Similarly students had also liked the community service sessions however finding shows that requires some improvement in qualitative research techniques. Conclusion: Community’s positive attitude towards waste disposal should be utilized judiciously for improving environmental cleanliness of the village. Similarly Positive feedback by the students’ necessities that authority should conduct more and more community service and learning exercise involving different education model