At last the spirit of pragmatism seems to have made its presence felt in the functioning of the government colleges in the City. For the first time they are offering study courses that seek to make the students ‘vocation-ready’. The Government PG College, Sector 9, has introduced a comprehensive Post Graduate course in Mass Communication; and the Girls Government College, Sector 14 has started a Travel and Tourism course - to enable students to pursue career opportunities in a more structured manner. These moves should certainly attract more quality students to the respective colleges. Separately, the Dronacharya College has earned a good B+ grade from the NAAC inspection team. However, despite such encouraging signs, almost all the Government colleges lack in basic hygiene and facilities. The safety of girl students outside the campus is also a matter of concern. Both the faculty and the students have agreed that self-defence and moral ethics classes need to be a part of the curriculum, particularly in the co-ed colleges.
Government colleges in India were set up with the objective of providing opportunities for the children from ‘ordinary’ households – urban and rural. Dronacharya College in the City has students coming from primarily rural and semi-urban homes. “But there are differences between us and other government colleges in Haryana,” says its Principal, R K Yadav. According to the Principal of Sector 9 College, Dr. Chaudhury, the main objective of the institution is to instil intellectual and moral values in the students, so that they become a ‘self- rejuvenating dynamic force’ and take the society and nation forward as awakened and responsible citizens. Nothing could be more ideal! At the Sector 14 College, most of the students are girls. The College has put emphasis on the girls’ safety, without inhibiting them from participating in major extracurricular activities such as sports, arts and other disciplines. It has created reasonably satisfactory boarding and lodging facilities for residential students. Dronacharya may be among the few government colleges that appears to have an atmosphere of contended students on its campus. Beaming a smile, Rima, a third year student of Science, says, “Our lab is one of the finest. It has great facilities. And our faculty too is quite good.” She adds that her college has been assigned as a nodal study centre for students of IGNOU pursuing an MBA. Sahil, a student of Sector 9 College, is happy that the College today offers professional courses just like the private colleges. “This gives us a wonderful opportunity to plan our careers,” he says. This course correction is also helping the College to wean students away from a mindset of only studying for government jobs. A large number of students have won laurels for both studies as well as sports. The Sector 14 College is proud that it hosts periodical placement camps, wherein leading corporate groups come scouting for talented students. υ
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