Orientation Programme for Degree Students at St Aloysius college, Harihar

Mangaluru: The orientation programme for B.com students was held on 8 th of July, 2019. The Guests for the day were Fr Eric Mathias SJ Principal and Superior of Degree College, Fr Santhosh Fernandes SJ Principal of PU College, Fr Pradeep Sequeira SJ Finance Officer, Fr Cyril Raj Vice Principal of Degree College, Ms Michelle D’Souza Lecturer of St Aloysius College and Ms Jayasree Coordinator of the programme. The programme began with a prayer dance which was led by Anitha. The Master of Ceremony Ms Nishath called upon Ms Shalen to deliver the welcome speech. The programme was inaugurated by lighting the lamp. Fr Eric Mathias SJ addressed the gathering where he mentioned the purpose of the orientation with three values. Fr Eric began his talk by narrating a real-life story of Mr Vivek Reddy from Hyderabad who had failed thirty-five times in UPSC examination and finally succeeded. Fr Eric asked the students to follow three values. First and foremost Team work which will lead to success. The second point is to have a positive thought and to turn everything from negative to positive. The third point is to be Loyal to the institution. The formal programme ended up with a vote of thanks which was delivered by Sindhu from final year B.com.

The second session began with an Ice breaking session which was conducted by Ms Vilisha and Ms Grace. It was an interactive session where everyone got a chance to know each other.

The orient is a historical term for the east, it is where the sun rises. ‘Students you are rising’ said Fr Pradeep Sequeira SJ in his message to students. Fr Pradeep talked about Interpersonal communication and motivated the students to be honest by stating an example. He divided the students into four groups and gave them seven questions to be answered. It was totally an interactive session. Then Fr Pradeep talked about personality development by bringing in the theory of two German scholars John Luft and Harry Ingram known as the theory of Johari Window. The window represents four combinations; open space: known to you- known to others, Blind spot: unknown to yourself- known to others, Hidden area: known to yourself – hidden to others and Unknown area: unknown to yourself- unknown to others. The session ended up with an interactive question answer session.

The afternoon session began with the topic Team Work which was taken up by Ms Michelle D’Souza from the department of English. She began the session with a brief introduction about Team work followed by dividing the students into groups. Ms Michelle showed a video on the importance of team work and she asked to solve a puzzle in the group. The students with coordination and by helping each other did the puzzle. Ms Michelle made them understand how a team functions and how they can achieve success with proper coordination and hard work. The session ended up with a discussion on how to build a team and by asking the students their own opinion about teamwork.

“If you have fun at your work place, then you don’t have to work at all” said Sunny Gudino in the second session. He spoke on the topic Career Development. Mr sunny believes in the quote ‘Start little by little and then be expert’. After giving a brief introduction of the topic he played an Animated short film which portrayed the daily routine which a man follows. He said that ‘career should be by choice and not by change’. Career is a way of living. He then gave a description about Harvard university survey which reveals that only 20% importance is given to academic or professional background and 80% importance is given to soft skills such as excellent communication skills, interpersonal leadership, creative ability etc. he also talked about the real life of two persons; Leah Marcus and Chris Massaa who led their career in the way they wanted. The session ended up with a detailed career guidance session by Sunny Gudino.

There is also an introduction of school complex concept where there will be a secondary school and all public schools in its neighbourhood, as there is a possibility to share resources and staff according to the facilities available. There is also a concern raised wherein teachers are being deployed for non educational purposes and not allowed to fully concentrate on education related issues. As suggested by the policy, the teacher pupil ratio should be 30:1.There is a suggestion for the creation of one regulatory body as in State School Regulatory Authority. Concentrating on higher education, they can’t be having a single programme, it must be multidisciplinary. There will be a creation of one regulatory body called National Higher Education Regulatory Authority(NHERA),where the present governing bodies will be operators and not controllers.

The final session for the day was conducted by Mr mousin and Ms Deepti. It was a fun session with lots of activities based on team building. The programme ended at 2:30 pm.