Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, August 27: A large number private and government colleges located across the state have been attracting a good number of students from the state and other parts of the country.
Many of these colleges host a plethora of events to give a break to the students from studies and also give them the responsibility of managing such events to inculcate among them the spirit of team work and management skills.
However, when it comes to organizing such events on the college campuses, a huge disparity is seen in performance as far as the government and private colleges and universities are concerned. Several private colleges in the state organize various cultural events to keep the campus livelier and give ample opportunities to the students of their institution to sharpen their talents beyond studies.
On the other hand, the government colleges except few reputed ones shy away from going more into such events. According to experts in the education sector, presence of more student clubs and organizations in these institutions propel more events on diverse topics.
Data compiled by Orissa POST from different educational institutions from the state hint at the great disparity when it comes to the number of student clubs which play pivotal role in organizing such events. Keeping in mind the diverse interests of students, private institutions in the state seem to be trying their best to cater to the interests of wider spectrum of students.
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Training (KIIT) which hosts a number of courses leads in the city in terms of the number of student clubs. The institution based in Patia has around 26 clubs ranging from clubs on drama, photography, robotics to painting and entrepreneurship. Similar is the case of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar whose students are bolstered with the fact that the institution now hosts 12 clubs ranging from oratory society to media and PR cell. Similarly SOA University, Khandgiri is home to 19 student-run clubs.
However, the picture is not very rosy when it comes to government educational institutions or government-funded institutions. At most of these places, merely 4-5 clubs exist and that their events are not held regularly. Utkal University is home to only about five while Ravenshaw University, Cuttack houses around 5-6 student societies which are engaged in organsing co-curricular activities on
their campuses.
Experts meanwhile opine that such societies and clubs are crucial for inculcating significant skills among the students. Sucheta Priyabadini, Director, Student’s Affairs, KIIT said, “These clubs and the involvement of students in organizing such events helps a lot in grooming them. It helps them in learning crisis management, fund management, logistic management and helps them learn many things first hand and prepares them for the future and challenges ahead. This is besides the benefit of refreshing themselves from studies and keeping them fresh.”
Like Sucheta, other experts too say co-curricular activities help the student prepare for the future and also help in placements. Chandrashekhar Bhende, Placement In-charge of IIT Bhubaneswar said, “The engagement of students in organizing their college events helps them in building their confidence and also prepares them for their career in different sectors. During placements many companies often prepare candidates who have some extra benefit of engaging themselves in some college events. This acts as a training session for the aspiring employees.”
Government colleges meanwhile claim that several clubs are also coming up in these institutions. Talking to Orissa POST, Sanjay Satpathy, Dean, Student Welfare, Ravenshaw University said, “We have a few clubs dedicated to drama and cultural events. We organize cultural mega cultural events in the college. We are now getting demands for new societies. We are always open to suggestion. If we get demands of new societies from students we consider it and grant our permission and adequate infrastructure.”