WELLNESS DRIVE

Morning Star Home Science College was established fifty-four years ago, in 1968, with a vision to build a strong and healthy society through educating its women, who would be mothers to the posterity.  The college has a distinctive position among the higher education institutions of the state of Kerala, because of the thrust it gives to shaping generations in health and wellness. Adhering to the vision of its founders, “to empower women through Home Science”, the institution focuses on sensitizing our girl students on the importance of maintaining a wellness lifestyle in their journey towards a successful living.

The Department of Home Science anchors the responsibility of initiating and coordinating activities in this regard, while all the other departments join hands in spreading awareness. Home Science as an academic discipline focuses on holistic development, by igniting knowledge, health, life skills, social commitment and moral values in students. Along with the successful fulfilling of the academic modules, the institution provides its students with an extra edge in leading healthy lives. With this aim, a number of activities are conducted – not only for the students of Family and Community Science, but also for the entire student community in the campus.

Good health has a deep-rooted relation with good food. The institution plans and conducts various awareness programmes on healthy and protective food, balanced diet, dietary needs and nourishment for different age groups.

Campus Activities

• Development of value-added products and low-cost recipes from locally available products were promoted through Tapioca Fest, Baking workshop, Milky expo etc.
• The learners are made aware of the importance of maintaining a healthy life style with the aid of diet counselling centres, and anthropometric assessments.
• Observance of National Nutrition Month, Breastfeeding Week, World Diabetes Day, Osteoporosis Day, World Food Day etc. helps to create awareness of wellness among the learners.
• The students are also made aware of the importance of organic farming and the need for organic pesticides to improve the quality of food. Organic farming has been successfully carried out by the NSS Volunteers of MSHSC. Bhoomitrasena Club members of MSHSC participated in planting of indigenous Pokkalipaddy seedlings, standing up for conservation of indigenous variety of paddy.
• The institution also provides classes on life style diseases and nutrition in the current scenario to mitigate the impact of sedentary lifestyle diseases.
• MSHSC extends an arm of strength to the PM’s Fit India Campaign through the Open Gym,  that strives to generate interest among students towards a healthy living.
• The Multi-Purpose Court is designed as a platform to conduct wellness training activities like yoga, zoomba, aerobics etc.
• The institution has a long-standing history of giving great importance to Yoga. All the students in the college are trained in yoga and they perform the same on annual sports day, International Yoga Day and on other occasions.
• Entrusted with the responsibility of inculcating the “Fitness lifestyle,” the Department of Physical Education provides facilities like Yoga Room, Fitness Centre and facilities for many sports events.
• The students of MSHSC are given coaching in Kho-Kho and Power-lifting. They represented and competed at the University level for Kho-Kho, and bagged silver medal in the international arena for Power-lifting.
• AannieJobina, alumni of MSHSC, was certified to coach the Indian National Team in Kuarash (Martial arts).
• Sports and Fitness Club of the collegeextends the facilities to the public as well as students to perform and maintain general fitness.
• Thulasi Vanam: Thulasi Vanam was a project launched by the government of Kerala. The students of MSHSC, in collaboration with the Mathrubhumi seed club members, participated in the Thulasivanam Project, and distributed and planted varieties of Tulsi to the community.
• Organic pesticides- The NSS volunteers of MSHSC organized a state level workshop on “Manufacturing of Organic Pesticides.” The programme was broadcasted in Cochin FM

Community Activities

• To cultivate strong bonds within the family and community, the institution encourages the students to attend classes on palliative care for the elderly, and annually celebrates the International Day for the Elderly.
• To make students realise the social responsibility to the elderly and the orphans, visits to institutions like Pakalveedu, elderly care homes, and orphanages were promoted.
• Knowledge was delivered to the community through crèche, understanding the relevance of formative years of kids.
• Events like Children’s Day and kids-fest bring out the hidden skills like leadership, organizing, planning and management skills.
• Creative and entrepreneurial skills are brought to light through Grahadarshan, observance of Handicrafts Day, Khadi Day etc. Motivational speakers and successful entrepreneurs created sparks for future entrepreneurs.
• Sessions are conducted on how to make low-cost recipes, by the faculty of MSHSC.
• Forecasting the spread of communicable diseases during the onset of monsoon, the institution alerted the various stakeholders of the institution about the dangers of communicable diseases during the monsoon season through leaflets. During the Covid pandemic, the same was carried out to the community through online classes.