Two students of class eight from Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) have been selected to attend ‘US Cultural Immersion Institute-2014’ organised for teachers and students of ‘English Access Micro-scholarship Programme’.

Out of 15 institutes running this programme in India and Pakistan, 65 students from seven institutes of India have been selected to attend the course.

Both the students, Bhutal Hansdah and Shantilata Murmu, joined the institute in Odisha in class six.

Bhutal, who belongs to Shantal tribe of Athapada village in Mayurbhanj district, has lost his parents. His brother and sisters are daily wage labourers.

Shantilata is also from a poor tribal family whose parents are daily wage labourers. She is from Panchugochhia in Keonjhar district.

Both of them joined this programme three months back. They have been selected by the US consulate on merit of their good performance in the language.

Bhutal and Shantilata expressed their gratitude to KISS and Dr A Samanta, founder, KIIT & KISS for providing good quality education, care and motivation to them.

Expressing his satisfaction, Dr Samanta said, “It’s a matter of pride for the institute and the tribal community as the students will spread the message about Odisha and its tribal community.” He also said that students of KISS have attended UN and many other international programmes in US and South Korea in the recent past.

For the last ten years KISS has been successful in empowering tribal communities by providing good quality education.