Holidays over, back to class

Colleges came back to life last week after Patna University opened following a month-long summer vacation.

Students from different colleges were spotted making their way to their classrooms on Wednesday. Though the attendance at the respective colleges was low, students who attended the classes were happy to meet their friends and classmates after a gap of nearly a month.

Students of Patna Women's College, Magadh Mahila College, Patna College and Patna Science College shared among each other the fun they had in the vacations.

"I was in touch with my friends and classmates the whole time. We constantly discussed how we were spending our vacations. But then again, the thrill of meeting friends at college is something different," said Anil Kumar, a student of Patna College, who the institution on the first day after vacations.

The students of Patna College were also surprised to see their new principal Ran Vijay Kumar Singh, the director of distance education department of Patna University.

Singh assumed charge as Patna College principal on July 1 after the retirement of senior economics teacher N.K. Chaudhary on June 30.

Anil said: "We were surprised to know that N.K. Chaudhary had retired from service. Had the college administration arranged a proper farewell for Chaudhary, we would have been happier."

On the low attendance on the first day, Patna College teacher Randhir Kumar Singh said: "Though the attendance was low on the first day, it would improve from next week as many students from other districts are likely to join classes from Monday."

Efficiency prod

St Xavier's College of Education conducted a two-day orientation programme for its fresh batch of BEd students on July 3.

The programme began with a prayer service and reading of the Holy Bible and the Bhagvad Gita.

Madhu Singh, one of the faculty members of the college, acquainted the students with the syllabus, while Father Jeoseph Maripuram, the rector of the college, gave a brief introduction of the college, its establishment and achievements over the past 27 years.

In his introductory speech, the college principal, Father Thomas Perumalil, welcomed all the students.

He asked the students to spend more time in reading books, accessing knowledge and striving to become competent and efficient teachers.

All the faculty members of the college introduced themselves and the various subjects they would be teaching.

A brief introduction of college events such as co-curricular activities, cultural functions and educational surveys among others were given to the students on the occasion.

Digital boost

The Central University of South Bihar celebrated Digital India Week at Patna and Gaya from July 1-7.

Public relations officer Mohammad Mudassir Alam said the university was celebrating the week according to directives laid down by the University Grants Commission.

Elaborating further on the Digital India week, he said the programme was formally flagged off on Wednesday at 4pm. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's launch of the week at the Indira Gandhi Stadium, New Delhi, was streamed live at the central university's conference hall.

Posters and digital services offered by the university were displayed and quick daily facts related to digital services and tools were shared through e-mail with the faculty and students.

Hands-on training about available free open source software and use of unicode (computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of writing systems) were also offered to students.

Ayush Kumar, a bachelor of computer applications student at the central university's Patna campus, said: "Through this programme, I got to know about many initiatives of the government. "

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