Community-Based Education and Participatory Rural Appraisal Methods

Community-based education is the need of the hour and it significantly aids medical educators to deliver contextual student-centered and experiential learning. The employment of participatory rural appraisal methods to deliver community-based education is an effective approach to training medical students in communication leadership and team-work related skills. Further as students get exposed to the local community they find practical relevance to reading and thereby this complete exercise aids in facilitating self-directed learning. It is quite important that all medical colleges explore the opportunity to begin with some form of community-based education within their settings with a mission to produce competent medical graduates.