Remdial Coaching for Minorities

Coordinator: Prof. Karishma Das

Smt CHM College runs three UGC sponsored initiatives AND THE Remedial Coaching Centre was started in 2005 As the sanction was received late in the academic year 2004-05, it was decided to implement the scheme in the academic years 2005-06 and 2006-07. The Coordinators of the scheme have been Dr Charanjeet Kaur in the year 2005-06 and Prof Karishma S Dass in the year 2006-07. Prof Kailas Aute, Prof Meera Gianani, Prof Indira Nair and Prof Karishma Dass were in charge for the Remedial Coaching Programmes in English, Sindhi, Economics and Chemistry respectively

The programme was introduced for the linguistic minority students. Since many of these students come from vernacular medium and from academically un-conducive environment they need special attention and a variety of remedial programme to improve their standard of education. At an early age they become earning members and hence they cannot warrant extra resources for extra tuitions. This is where such in-house remedial programmes benefit.

Objectives:

Some of the students are first generation learners and due to socio economic constraints they study in vernacular medium, their communication skills in English are not developed. The programme helps them to fulfill their academic requirement more efficiently which will then help them to build their career in future.

The primary aim of the programme was to improve the academic skills and linguistic proficiency of the students in various subjects.

The scheme was initiated for under graduate students belonging to:

i. Schedule Caste and Scheduled Tribe
ii. Minority communities:

The scheme was also initiated for entry in services for students belong to:
i. Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe
ii. Minority Community.

The primary aim of the programme is to inculcate study habits in students, to improve their communication skills and to aid them in some extra teaching and to make them computer savvy.

Students at under graduate level have to enter a totally different world of education from higher secondary school to University education. They have to have in depth knowledge of the subjects which they have offered.

The programme raises their level of comprehension of the basic subjects to provide the stronger foundation for further academic work. It also strengthen their knowledge, skills and attitude in the subject. Book and Journals were provided to the students.

Performance:
Remedial Coaching was conducted for two academic years at
Smt CHM College, and 220 students have benefit (106 in 2005-06 and 113 in 2006-07). Apart from the Sindhi Minority Community students, students from Muslims, Sikh, Christians and Other Minority Communities were targeted. The coaching was initiated for four subjects – English, Chemistry, Economics and Sindhi.

The performance of the students improved considerably at the examinations. Their communication skill in English improved after the coaching. Students who were reluctant to speak English earlier were able to make presentations and speeches in class room situations.

The UGC funds sanctioned for the Remedial Coaching Programme were used to set up a language laboratory in the Department of English and to augment the library collection of books and journals in the four subjects that were earmarked under the programme.

Blue Print for the Future

It is proposed that the scheme be widened from being subject based and curriculum focus, to include improvement of communication skills in the languages offered by the colleges.

Communication skills are important professional requirements and languages are not given enough importance at the school and college level. There should be a provision to design need based courses for the improvement of communication skills like spoken English, English for business communication, Marathi official correspondence, Translations, Hindi for the mass media etc. This will help to improve the professional skills of the students belong to Minority Community.