Rajlakshmi.Ghosh
@timesgroup.com
Students are happy to be back on campus after an extended hia tus and repeated campus closu res. They hope for better futures, mo re equipped to deal with the pande mic-induced lessons. Safety rules firmly in place, academic institutions are going all out to provide full-on in person classes, to learning mo re impactful for them.
Navya Jain, second year Multi media Media and Mass Communica tion student of IP College for Women, Delhi University (DU), calls the expe rience "surreal" as she gets to see what her campus looks like for the first time in two years. "Pure learning is sure to receive a boost as exposure to on-ground activities, symposiums and society meetings will help hone our leadership skills."
Neeyati Shivind Jauhar, third ye ar BTech (Computer Science & Engi neering) student at the Amity School of Engineering & Technology, echo- a es a similar view. "Meeting our class- f mates after almost two years gave us k the feeling of freshers all over again. Students who claim they were better 1: off at home, with their bedrooms as classrooms, need to seriously ret hink." Sundaram Bhupathi, BTech student in the Department of Electri cal Engineering, NIT Andhra Pra desh, is also relieved at the return to normalcy. "Unwired education gives irreplaceable experiences and me mories. Our enthusiasm towards education had diluted as there was a sudden change in the teaching-lear ning mode. Engineering is an experi ence of learning and implementing, not just gaining subject knowledge. Reopening the campus revived ma ny useful resources. It is exciting to get hold of the lab equipment, books in the library, weights in the gym or even the hostel food."
Offline classes have had an expo nential learning impact on Aishwa rya Venkatraman, PGDM, 2020-22 batch student at TA Pai Manage ment Institute, Manipal. "There is real-time exchange of ideas leading to fruitful discussions and collective knowledge-sharing. We are able to understand the nuances of body language and bond better in physical classes," she says.
Sudheendra P Kulkarni, MBA stu dent at the School of Management, CMR University-Main Campus Bengaluru, is equally upbeat abo ut the collaborative atmosphe re of college, which combi ned with fun, is most condu cive to learning, he says. "I had missed these during on line classes. Hopefully, with the lifting of Covid-19 restric tions and safety measures on cam pus, we will get to experience a real classroom in the true sense." AV Arunkumar, professor, School of Eco nomics, RV University shares the stu dents' youthful exuberance. A great admirer of online education, Kumar feels that it may not be the best medi um of learning for students at their fo undation courses. "Campus life is be yond bookish learning as it contribu tes to students' all-round development. Besides, it showcases extra-curricular activities and talents in real time." BDesign student Hars hitha N J, also from the same univer sity, is now ready to put the pande mic-induced exhaustion behind her, though she says it was a new process of self-discovery. "After another lock down, I am looking forward to sitting in class and making the most of my time and potential."
"Campuses are bustling with liveliness and energy with the return of the stu dents," says Abhay Bansal, professor of Computer Scien ce and Engineering, ASET jo int head, Amity University, Noida, pointing to the faculty's role of facili tating student's transition to in-per son classroom learning and counsel ling them for their concerns. For An shu Tyagi, second year MSc Physics student, IIT Mandi has cemented her bond with the mountains. "It is a pri vilege to work with such amazing fa culty and peers. When I leave, it is with the hope of carrying a better ver sion of myself," she adds.
Published on:- Times of India
Date:-21 02 2022
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