Mentorship

Mentoring, in the present context of education, can be understood as a power-free partnership between two individuals, here the teachers and students. Some recent definitions suggest that mentoring is a deep understanding and appreciation for the circumstances and unique abilities of a protege (mentee) that go beyond an interest in any single personal dimension. In the recent years, Mentoring has emerged as an effective strategy to understand the psyche of the students and motivate them to carve a trajectory of happiness and success for themselves.

The Campus Mentoring Program has already been functional in the college since 2017 and needless to say, it has met with a great zeal on the part of the students. It aims to enrich students’ lives on the campus and empower them to continue with their studies and other activities unencumbered by any social or psychological constraint. The aim of the Campus Mentorship Program suitably harmonizes with the creative vision and mission of the college.. The Program intends to create a required space for students where their personalities can blossom and prosper to their full potential. The mentors have one-to-one interaction with the students and they support them systematically in their academic as well as personal growth. The mentors act as guides, friends and role models for the students and they imbibe values and ethics central to living a harmonious life.

The Mentorship Meet is an institutionalized and organized program for which one hour is squeezed out and accommodated during the college hours. It is significant that the number of students assigned to each mentor be reasonably manageable so that mentors produce good results and are satisfied with the outcome of the Meeting. TheMeet scheduled once a month for each class is witnessing whole-hearted participation of the students.

In the current session 2019-20, mentors have been assigned new students in addition to the previous students. The formation and assignment of groups has indeed been a meticulously designed and executed task. The identification and allotment of students after much thoughtful planning of matching the students with their teachers is very important. In these groups, largely the mentors and mentees are not unknown to each other; rather the students have already been taught by these teachers. They have been purposely matched to each other in the larger interests of the students so that students can have a better understanding, rapport and air of ease with the mentor.

Students are divided into micro groups with each mentor catering to 20 students The formation and assignment of groups has indeed been a meticulously designed and executed task. The identification and allotment of students after much thoughtful planning of matching the students with their teachers is very important. In these groups, largely the mentors and mentees are not unknown to each other; rather the students have already been taught by these teachers. They have been purposely matched to each other in the larger interests of the students so that students can have a better understanding, rapport and air of ease with the mentor. The relatively small size of the groups enables the mentors to have smooth and productive interaction with each other.

The record file of each student is maintained and carried forward as the students graduate from first year to the final year. This helps in close monitoring of the academic grades as well as emotional growth/healing of each student. Our Campus Mentorship Program is an inclusive and comprehensive program, and this is also validated by a separate track record of the students in terms of their participation in community outreach programs like NCC, NSS and Rotaract Club; different flagship programs launched by MHRD or Central Govt.; and their involvement and achievements in co-curricular, extra-curricular activities and sports.

The entire annual program spans across several integral concerns of the students. The tentative areas to be worked upon during the mentorship sessions have been designed in a comprehensive manner. These include – discussion on students code of conduct in college prospectus and panjab university calendar, common problems faced by the students in teaching-learning process, questions pertaining to internal evaluation, entertaining issues related to library in terms of availability/non-availability of books, timings of library, difficulties faced in hostel, focusing on the need for destressing and motivating using eclectic approaches like yoga and meditation , handling exam fear and dealing with career challenges, instilling strong ethics and values, time management, coping with mood swings, dealing with the exigency of sustainable development, balanced diet and healthy foods and the need for self-discipline to achieve success. The mentors certainly go beyond the suggested themes and customize the same as per the requirement of the mentees.

Students’ welfare is the thrust area of our institution and all efforts are being made to harmonize and integrate our vision with the need of our campus millenials so that they may get the best grooming and cross the thresholds of this college with confidence, capacity, and a renewed vigour of bringing about a positive change in the society and nation at large.

The college is striding forward in the direction of exploring and realizing the full potential of Campus Mentorship Program. The coming years are certainly going to be momentous for this ‘out-of-the-class’ holistic approach. We plan to prepare a comprehensive mentoring program for each academic year and centrally announce group-wise dates in the college’s academic calendar in the beginning of the year. The same information shall be uploaded on the institutional website also for the convenience of the students and their parents.

Apart from tracing the progression of the students during mid-semester exams, final exams and their participation in other activities, there will also be stream-lining of allied issues like review of progress of students enrolled for remedial, bridge, enrichment and add-on courses. An exhaustive report about the attendance/non-attendance and personal growth of the mentees will be prepared along with mentor’s observations and steps taken to redress problems, if any, by the mentor.