CAMPUS
The ordeal begins: Form-filling, house-hunting...
Gaurav Choudhury

IT is that time of the year when thousands of students, chasing a dream, will converge on the Delhi University campus from all parts of the country. With the school board examination results, scheduled to be announced this week, aspiring students have already started arriving, even though in a trickle, as the admission process is almost still a month away.

For most, the journey to the campus from their native air marks the beginning of a new phase in their lives, as they would be taking the first tentative steps away from the protective cocoon of their parents. The sizzling temperatures of the Delhi summer is something they would not mind getting accustomed to as they will soon be hopping from one college to another submitting admission forms. In between, they will stop over to refuel the hydration levels at the non-descript nimbupani vendor. They will do all these things in the name of a brighter future.

With limited hostel seats available on the campus, most outstation students prefer to stay in these areas on a shared basis. House owners also preferred student tenants as they (students) generally paid more, than a single family.

However, the dastardly terrorist attack on the Parliament House last year has sent a shiver of shock and astonishment among the student community, especially the resident students in the north campus in the Delhi University here. That one of the main alleged conspirators were rubbing shoulders with many students till the other day has been the one of the most damning revelations for many. The security agencies probing the sensational shootout case, has arrested one Syed Abdul Rehman Geelani, a lecturer in the Arabic Department of Zakir Hussain College (Evening). It is alleged that he had conspired with the militants in the terrorist strike at the very heart of Indian democracy.

His colleagues in the University said that nothing unusual was noticed in the behaviour or mannerisms of Geelani, who was engaged in the drafting of his PhD thesis on “Kashmiri Scholars”. Another disconcerting development has been the arrest of certain students, who were residing in rented accommodation in the vicinity of the campus in areas such as Mukherjee Nagar, Gandhi Vihar etc.

However, the attack on the Parliament House and the subsequent developments in its aftermath, appears to have changed the total equilibrium. The property dealers (one of whom have already been detained by the police for questioning), for one, are now a wary lot. “Earlier, it was easy. House owners would inform us that there was a vacant room and we would act as the intermediary between the student (the tenant). Now, the Parliament shooting, and the alleged involvement of the students in the incident has thrown open a whole host of questions. Checking the antecedents of outstation students is not an easy task,” a property dealer in the area said. For the students, on the other hand, it may mean another ordeal of house hunting with more probing questions from the landlords, property dealers and even the security agencies.

Public governance

The All-India Management Association (AIMA), the apex body of the management professionals in the country, has been urged to “immediately establish” a Centre for Public Governance in New Delhi, with the responsibility of implementing an agenda for ensuring high quality public governance. “We will certainly try to given an early shape to this”, Director General of AIMA, D.N Khurana said.

This is one the key recommendations made at the recent national conference on Public Governance, organised by the Bangalore Management Association, as part of its golden jubilee celebrations. The conference in its “Bangalore Declaration” agreed on an “actionable agenda” that called for, among other things, the confiscation by the state of all “ill-gotten gains” and making all public transactions transparent and accountable.

Unique program

Wigan & Leigh, a college that is offering ‘Learn and Earn facility’ to its students through its apprenticeship program. According to this program, the students attend classes from 8.00 am to 11.00 am after which they work with the leading companies of their respective fields for a maximum of 6 hours/5 days a week.

Apprenticeship is paid work-based training, combined with education. The college offers this facility in all four semesters of the PG course and the last year of the UG course. The advantage of apprenticeship program is that the students get a stipend from day one in college in the PG course and the last year of UG course, which covers all his daily expenses and a part of his tuition fee as well.

According to Mr Shiv Dugal, Director, Wigan & Leigh College, “Many industry insiders and career consultants stress on the importance of skills learned on the job, to the long-term success of a career. What we offer is the same through our apprenticeship program. In addition apprentices get paid to learn and gain valuable skills that will provide them with a long-term, financially successful and personally rewarding career.”

On an average the students gets Rs 3000-6000 during their apprenticeship. Moreover, on completion of the course almost all students get absorbed with a five-figure salary in the same company. “In today’s competitive job market where students from other colleges are fighting for final placements, our students from various courses already have more than 400 placement offers from the industry. This is because our students have an advantage of on-the-job training of two/one years along with their courses,” added Mr Dugal.

Wigan & Leigh College is one of the largest government funded further education institution in the United Kingdom. Established over 150 years ago, it has its presence in 23 countries worldwide. In India, Wigan & Leigh has campuses in Delhi, Bangalore, Indore and Mumbai, offering industry led academic courses in Management, Advertising & Marketing Communications, Advertising & Graphic Design, Apparel Merchandising & Marketing, Fashion Technology and Media Studies at post graduate and under graduate levels.

YOUNG VOICE
Lecturers make themselves scarce here
Tarun Gill

DO you guys have a comparatively weak academic record in your 12th standard? And are you planning to go to a college, which is being shown to you on a silver screen (only fun no studies). And do you often sing to the tune of Pink Floyd’s `We don’t need no education’? Well, here’s offering you a perfect college, Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College (Evening).

“The education level of this institute is appalling. There is hardly any teaching curriculum. To be honest, there is absolutely no teaching out here,’’ says Harpreet Singh, President, Khalsa College Evening.

Unlike the regular College at the North Campus, Khalsa Evening College, is in Dev Nagar, Karol Bagh. And due to its seclusion from the customary campus, it attracts students who are close at hand with areas such as Patel Nagar, Punjabi Bagh, Karol Bagh and they mostly represent the business class.

Almost all the students are seen outside the college. It’s quite ironical when the students come to attend their classes, the lecturers are absent and vice versa. The teachers’ apathy towards their students is also prevalent.

The canteen system of this college is very poor. “The kind of food we are given is highly unhygienic, no room for sanitation, and it’s expensive too,” says a student of the college.

“Neetu Verma (president, Delhi University Student Association, DUSA) has practically done nothing. She is a very weak leader and now we are regretting for choosing such a representative. I don’t want to name people, but there is whole lot of politics going on and these representatives go up to any extent to serve their purpose ,” says a student of the college. And that’s primarily the reason, we don’t allow any of DUSA members to enter our premises because we want our environment to be clean from such elements.