Usually, when you walk into the campus of the Government College for Women, you will find groups of students sitting beneath the many trees on campus and in alcoves, animatedly discussing all kinds of things under the sun. Nowadays there is only a handful and even those young women have their heads bent over papers and books. It speaks much for the 'choice-based credit and semester system' of education now followed by the University of Kerala for its undergraduate and postgraduate courses. As per the current system, the undergraduate students have to garner 120 credits to pass the course, with two semesters and three examinations every year for three years, not to mention mandatory 75 per cent attendance per semester.
“The syllabus is so vast that all our time is spent in class, catching up on missed classes, in the library reading up on mandatory reference material or preparing for seminars and exams. Bunking class is a thing of the past; college life nowadays is more or less like a strict school!” quips bespectacled Eleanora Nallu E.C., a second year student. Her friends Shruthy S. Kumar, Riya, Devaki, and Lakshmy Menon burst into laughter, before bombarding us with their opinions. Shruthy, a sprightly English (Honours) student is first off the bat. “We are supposed to read but we have no time to read anything extra. For English Honours undergraduate course we have to study 70 texts and that’s just from the prescribed syllabus! There is just no time to learn any of the texts in depth and I don’t know how that kind of superficial knowledge is going to help us in the long run. It’s the same across the board for all the courses.”
Lakshmy nods in agreement. “It’s more or less the same with B.A. History. We actually have no prescribed text. For example, world history. No one, not teachers nor students, know where to begin and where to end!” she says.
Devaki, a first year postgraduate student of music, adds after a pause. “A majority of the 10 students in my batch joined the course because of our deep interest in music, which I imagine is the same with most of the students [nods of agreement around]. Until recently the syllabus for music was very theory-oriented and there was very little by way of practical knowledge. Imagine, there were actually music students who did not know how to sing in public! The revised syllabus has more focus on seminars and also lots more performance opportunities, which allows us to interact with people in the music field and build up a network of contacts. However, the course itself has some gaping holes. For example, we are not taught much about Hindustani music, which is actually a paper in itself in other reputed Universities.”
Riya, who is studying chemistry, agrees. “Exactly. We need a more streamlined course oriented for modern requirements and efficient teachers who are not spread thin by the amount of extra work and responsibilities the University piles upon them. We are all ready to study and even sit for extra classes. But the University has to do its bit too, understand and address the flaws in the system and correct them,” she says, before the quintet say their goodbyes.
Turn a corner and we come across another bunch of five sprightly youngsters – Sharanya P.B. and Gopika J., both postgraduate students of English, and Bhavana Vijayan, Brinda J. Krishnan and Renjitha Mohan, all undergraduate students of economics. They too echo the pet peeves of their college mates. Sharanya, who was among the first batch of undergraduates that went into the semester system, and still “shudders” at the thought of the workload, says: “Quantity wise our syllabus can hold its own; quality-wise I’m not so sure. Probably that’s why there are many in our class who study other courses like journalism on the side to add to their CVs.”
Gopika believes that the present higher education system by its very nature caters only to those who excel in academics. “And those who can mug up. There is little or no scope for innovation. It is against all of them that we would be competing in the real world,” she says. When Brinda bemoans the fact that the syllabus still doesn’t give proper emphasis on practical knowledge training, Renjitha points out the example of the common 'Informatics' paper in the undergraduate programme. “We learn how to describe parts of the computer rather than learning applications!”
Bhavana adds that another drawback of the system is that they literally have no time for any extra-curricular activity. “It’s a case of either or, which is unfortunate because taking part in extra-curricular activities is needed for the all-round development of an individual and which, of course, also comes in handy when we are looking for employment,” she says.
On that note, most of the students do not appear unduly worried about finding employment. History student Revathy B. Ramesh and Anakashree S., another student of B.A. English (Honours), echo popular opinion when they say: “We believe that whatever we chose to study, we can do something with it – if we put our mind to it. For example, history grads can look forward to jobs with the Archaeological Survey of India and other similar organisations. There is much scope for Chemistry graduates in petrochemical industries.” Many of them want to write the NET exam and qualify as teachers and lecturers [there is apparently a huge dearth]. Some such as Riya want to continue their education here or in Universities outside the state or abroad, while several others, like history student Lakshmy and Shruthy too, dream of a future in the Civil Service.
(A monthly column on views from the campus)
