St Xavier’s College students on Tuesday marked 50 years of the institute’s National Service Scheme (NSS) by pledging to reach out to poor students and ensure their mental wellness and fight plastic pollution.

At least 230 students, divided into 23 teams, discussed education, health, environment and the need for mental wellness of young students.

At the end of the sessions, the teams concluded mental wellness and plastic pollution were two major problems and their “active participation” was needed to resolve them.

The NSS — sponsored by the youth affairs and sports ministry — was started at St Xavier’s on September 24, 1969, the day it was launched in the country for college and university students.

At St Xavier’s College, every student is a NSS volunteer and the social outreach activity is mandatory for all students. “The primary objective of the event was to encourage students to work together for social causes,” Father Dominic Savio, principal, said.

A seminar on “Social Responsibility of College Students — Its Need and Relevance Today” was held on the campus to mark the occasion. NSS volunteers of the college regularly visit 12 villages of South 24-Parganas where they are involved in welfare activities for poor students.

“At least six of the 23 teams spoke on the need for mental wellness and the role students of St Xavier’s could play in helping those suffering from low mental well-being,” Sheryl Francis, the director of NSS and the college’s social work department, said.

The teams had been asked to come up with suggestions on how the problems could be resolved. A team suggested that the process start on the campus. The experience could be used to help poor students.

For example, someone in a class may be going through a crisis at home. “There could be someone showing signs of low mental well-being. He/she may be silent…. We can start an exercise to identify our friends who show such signs. We can provide them with a platform to address their problems,” according to a suggestion from one of the teams.

Arranging regular adda where students get to share their day’s happy and sad moments was another suggestion. The same process could be followed to help poor students outside the campus.

Almost all the students said they were “concerned” about plastic pollution. The students decided to ban the use of plastic on the campus.