Dhenkanal College holds sessions to assess creative talent of students

Dhenkanal: In a bid to assess mental ability and creative talent of students, Reading Room of Dhenkanal Autonomous College conducted 22 -day long programme under the aegis of "A Symposium of Self-Assessment (ASSA)" in collaboration with Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) of the college. As many as 600 students from different disciplines participated in the programme. Reading habits among students was emphasised in the programme.

In post pandemic period, the college observed that reading habit among students was not much affected during Covid pandemic. The college started innovative initiative called ASSA to revive the mental and creative thinking of the students. There were brainstorming and creative thinking sessions among students and teachers.The programme was conducted from November 9 to 30. More than 600 students from 15 departments of Arts, Science and Commerce participated.

The emerging topics such as 'Role of blended learning,' 'Mental health and well-being,' 'Restoration of ocean health,' 'Medical tourism,' '360 degree review of RTI Act,' 'Indian logistic system,' 'PM SHRI scheme' and 'National Education Policy' were taken up, informed Sumitra Behera, Officer in-charge of Reading Room and Convenor of ASSA . "We have taken this integral thinking approach with an objective to bring back students' interest towards knowledge awareness as well as reading habit", said Sumitra, who is also member of IQAC.

"College needs change in the mindset of students in post pandemic period. IQAC has united all departments and disciplines to exchange ideas. We have conducted learning outcome and picture perception tests to evaluate their mental ability and creative talent", informed Prasanta Kumar Parida, Co-ordinator of IQAC. "We have aimed to improve qualitative performance of students. We will conduct more such programmes on campus soon," Parida added.

"After a long gap, I got the opportunity to exchange ideas with students of other disciplines under the ASSA. This multi-disciplinary programme rejuvenated my interest," said Dharitri Samal, a physics honours student, after attending the session on 'National logistic policy.' This programme is helpful for preparation of competitive examination, she said.

"I have set a framework for all departments to conduct multi-disciplinary seminars. It will bring tremendous change among students to get updated with emerging issues", informed Prof Ranjit Kumar Pradhan , Principal of Dhenkanal Autonomous College. Later, students were awarded on their evaluation of learning and they shared feedback.