Best Practice of College

 

# Best Practice 1

Environment Consciousness

Objectives

Environment is a polycentric and multifaceted problem affecting the human existence. Progress and pollution go together; there can be no end to progress, and consequently, no escape from pollution. The protection of environment is a global issue and it is not an isolated problem of any area, nation. It concerns all countries irrespective of their size, level of development. Building up awareness is an absolute necessity to combat this stride of damage. It is the youth of a nation that can uphold the cause of a cleaner earth with zeal and vigor. Hence the need to build up environment consciousness.

Context

In ancient India Vedas, Upanishads gave great importance to trees, water bodies and wildlife and also to their value to human beings. In the recent times the surge of industrialization has led to uncontrolled increase in pollution harming not only the flora and fauna of the mother earth, but also air that we breathe in affecting the quality of human life adversely.

The college has very consciously engaged itself in building up the awareness in this issue and has been taking necessary steps to uphold the age-old tradition of the country in revering the nature. Being situated in the heart of the city of Howrah building up a harmony between man and nature has always been even more of a challenge.

The problem of environmental pollution in an increasing small world. Every small contribution in the way of protecting and preserving the environment can save the world from its premature destruction.

Practices

The following are the regular practices followed by the college

• Continuous maintenance of the splendid campus with lots of green and a small water body. The shades of the spreading branches of the large Peepal and Mango trees keep the campus cool.
• Encouraging the students and staff to plant saplings every year through Brikshyaropan by ‘Sabuj-sakhi’ club in July as a part of tree plantation programme which owes its allegiance to Rabindranath Tagore’s “Halakarshan” (1928)
• Regular Green, Energy and Environment Audit has been carried out by external agency for the last three years.
• Solar panels were installed in the campus to reduce regular energy consumption and the college has immensely benefitted from the reduced electricity bill.
• All electrical and electronic gadgets are constantly monitored to keep them in satisfactory working condition so that there is no energy wastage. Almost all the computer monitors in use are either LED, LCD or TFT types to ensure minimum usage of electricity and also to reduce the level of radiation. All lights in use are LED.
• Switching of lights, fans and other gadgets are instilled habits in all concerned.
• Care is taken to ensure that the college environment has low levels of carbon emission and low pollution levels so that the campus is healthy for all.
• The use of plastic bags is avoided in the campus and the authority has declared the entire campus as “No Plastic Zone”.
• Students and staff are motivated to use jute bags or cotton bags.
• The college is declared as ‘No Smoking Zone’
• Swachh Campus-Green Campus is strictly maintained with support from NSS
• Several seminar/webinar and workshops have been organized during to strengthen the awareness

 

Evidence of Success

The growing concern that increase in economic activities in general is leading to environmental degradation especially in urban areas has motivated the college to undertake all the above stated activities. This college believes that the sensitizations and practice of good environmental manner will improve the present environmental condition. It also maintains that college students as a community whose behavior and willingness to adopt environmentally sound policies will become a dominant force for sustainable environment in urban areas.

The institution has been able to instigate environmental awareness through various practices like using alternative for plastic such as paper/cloth bag, and participating in environmental programmes like planting saplings in their neighborhood.

Problems Encountered and Resources Required

Even though there has been a considerable increase in the level of awareness amongst the students, this has not found a wider horizon. Sensitization is needed at various levels to actually make any policy regarding environment effective. Students alone cannot achieve the desired outcome as they face hurdles at every step. There is also a dearth of land area in and around the college campus because of its purely urban location. Therefore, the scope of planting saplings to increase greenery becomes restricted.

Government measures play a crucial role in protecting the environment, but it is also necessary that help should come from NGOs who are working on environmental issues, social activists and Social Work professionals. This college will keep up its effort to pave the path towards environmental sustainability and hope that even its little contribution will help in making the world a safer place to live.

 

#Best Practice II

Nurturing The Young Minds

Objectives

Thinking out of the box is what changes the life of a whole institution as well as individual stake holders. Properly guided vibrant inquisitive minds can boost the educational atmosphere of the college and generate social soft power for universal growth. Over the years the higher education institutions have evolved as centre for socio-economic, political and cultural reformations along with education that add value to human life. It is the girl student who deserves priority in this process of enhancement of human capital. Opening their vistas into a global arena could bring about a sea change in their future.

Context

Bijoy Krishna Girls’ College, Howrah, is situated at a prime urban location very close to Howrah Station. Students come from towns and villages of the neighboring districts and are mostly from constrained economic background. Their societal, financial, political and other personal forces often act as big hindrance in the way of their self-realization. This is more so as a girl child is often relinquished to the background. The college has for the last few years providing them a platform by building up their confidence and a sense of belief that their opinions and choices matter and they can achieve extraordinary feats. In congruence with the mission of the collegeemancipate the girl student and in following the vision to help them to cultivate and excel in their academic endeavor, sincere efforts are made by the college as one of its best practice to encourage them from ‘Hope to Motivation to Ambition’.

Practices

Some of the practices that are carried out to motivate the girl student to conquer the impediment and outshine are

Webinars and Poster Presentations

The college organizes International/National webinars regularly. These webinars are platforms for scholarly deliberations from erudite academicians and give an opportunity for teacher scholars to interact.

As an encouragement to the UG and PG students a session is always allotted for them. Some examples are given below

• Two weeks “International Student Development Programme on Advance Learning and Career Guidance”, organized by IQAC & Department of Zoology, in association with Clarkson University, USA & Cytogenetics and Genomics Research Unit, Dept of Zoology, University of Calcutta
• E-Short-Term Course on “Mangrove Ecosystem and Its Conservation” organized by  Department of Geography, Prasanta Chandra Mahalnobis Mahavidyalaya and Department of Geography, Bijoy Krishna Girls’ College, Howrah

• National Level Online Poster competition on “Say no to Drugs” organized by NSS

• Student Workshop on “Environment and Sustainable Development” was organized by NSS

• One week workshop on “Research Methodology” was organized in collaboration with IQAC, University of Calcutta

• Quiz Contest on Environment Day, organized by Dept of Geography

• Students’ Webinar organized by IQAC, Department of Mathematics & R& D Cell

• Primary Survey on  “Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome”, organized by Dept of Zoology

• Special Lecture on “ Needs and Problems of Adolescents, their Guidance and Counselling” organized by Department of B.Ed

• Inter-College Poster Competition was organized by IQAC and R&D Cell on account of Celebration of World Environment Day on “Current Environmental Hazard, Disaster & Challenge”

• Following the Guidelines of UGC the college has started Microteaching by the students. Senior batches of students take classes of the junior batches. This allows a better grasp of the subject for students to builds up their confidence about their capability.
• Use of ICT: Getting acquainted with the computer, using a laptop and projector for presentation is widely encouraged and practiced by every department

• Skill enhancement courses are aimed to motivate students to develop acumen and to augment their positive skill. This course is over and above their regular programme. Through effective skill enhancement, the students become more capable, and are better able to reach their goals.

• Mentor Mentee Programme (Inter & Intra College) was organized by Zoology and Economics departments

Evidence of Success

• The skill enhancement certificate courses have trained the students in hands on method and have helped them to visualize the ground reality in a working atmosphere.

• To inculcate the research culture among student communities the biannual multilingual multidisciplinary students’ journal “BKGC SCHOLAR” was introduced in January-June 2020, providing a platform to the young and budding UG and PG students to showcase their independent thinking in the form of research articles under the guidance of their faculty mentors.

Problems Encountered and Resources Required

To encourage girl students to break the glass ceiling is not an easy job. More so if the students come from conservative and restrictive families. Another major problem is communicative skill. Also staying beyond class hours become a hindrance for them as most of them travel by local train at scheduled times. The pandemic has also been a big problem to address. The students coming from economically challenged family were already facing issues regarding phone data prices for just the regular classes. Any additional online class was a burden for them.

However the college is trying to deal with the critical situation and has all the courses free for those who have applied. A future plan is there to attract more students with courses like Entrepreneurship Development and Hospitality Management.