Apart from churning out brilliant young engineers, PCCE needs to give equal importance to extra-curricular activities, say the students of this esteemed house of learning
Try to enter the Padre Conceciao College of Engineering inVerna and you have to navigate not one, but two check points. “ID card please,”you are asked by a stern-looking security guard, who allows you to pass throughonly after validating the same. Once you cross the check points, the next thingthat grabs your attention is the cleanliness and the greenery in the campus. Aneat parking arrangement and signboards direct you to the desired part of thecampus. Everything looks spick and span, yet the serious expressions on thefaces of the students suggest that there is more to the story after all.
Dig a little deeper and a student says dejectedly, “Thecollege management and staff is simply too strict. It’s like being back inschool. We are not allowed any freedom at all. We are not encouraged toparticipate in college festivals as the management thinks we will indulge insmoking, drinking and hooliganism. Also, for our in-house events, externalsponsors are not allowed,” says one student, on the condition of anonymity,
Another student who does not wish to be named either, addsmore fuel to the fire. “The canteen needs a lot of improvement. The space isnot enough for the number of students in the college. To make matters worse,the food is horrible and exorbitantly priced. Despite paying fees as high as Rs45,000 for six months, we have to make do with such unpleasant stuff.”
The students wish to come together to change things for thebetter, but their heavy workloads mean that they are always short for time. Astudent representative says, “We don’t have time to go on strike. After all, wehave to give importance to our studies. Moreover, even if we come together, theunity goes for a toss when teachers threaten to cancel internal marks.”
College forms an important phase in every person’s life. Thebitter-sweet memories created here are cherished for a lifetime. Hence, it isimportant to lay equal emphasis on the not-so-serious things associated withcampus and college life. After all, it is not only the academics but theoverall development of a student that counts in the outside world.
