Institutional Distinctiveness of Raniganj Girls' College

Respecting the motto of Raniganj Girls' College, "asato ma sad gamay tamaso ma jyotirgamay", the priority and thrust area for�Institutional Distinctiveness� was universally adopted as �Empowerment of Women�.

Empowering women through knowledge and education

Westrongly believe in the age old dictum that �Knowledge is Power�. Acquisition of knowledge leads to emancipation. This is more pertinent for us as ours is a women�s college. We visualize our students as active agents who work toward seradication of gender inequality in the society as they become empowered by acquisition of higher education. We are always conscious of the quality of education provided to the students. For this purpose, apart from the traditional methods of teaching and learning, different types of innovativemethods in teaching and learning have been adopted by the college like ICT enabled presentations, use of Smart Board, screening of films and documentaries, invited lectures, publication of the Departmental Wall Magazines, inter disciplinary seminars and workshops, theme based exhibition by different departments of the college, educational tours and so on. Another significant innovation inteaching is the unilateral hosting of the academic pursuits of students of department of Psychology of Durgapur Women�s College in our college.

Empowerment through financial assistance

Our objective is to enlighten the girl students from socially and economically backward sections of the society and ensure that financial disability is not aconstraint for the needy learner to pursue college education. Hence the college strives to provide different types of financial assistance, scholarships and endowments to the students or help in facilitating scholarships and financial assistance provided by the government and different non- governmental organizations.

Empowerment through co-curricular, extra-curricular and extension activities

We believe that education entails comprehensive development of the learners�personality. The learners are encouraged to participate in co-curricular,extra-curricular and extension activities like participating in seminars and workshops, group discussions, cultural programme, Sports, NSS, NCC, participate in educational tours and the like. The college also motivates the learners ofthe college to help the children of a nearby orphanage, Ananda Ashram,periodically. These activities play a significant role in developing the personality of the student, increase their self-esteem, built their confidence,make them socially aware of current burning issues in the society and practically empower them to handle the larger issues and problems of the society. They also develop a sense of gratitude and indebtedness to the institution and respect for the society.

Empowerment through skill development and rendering the learners employable

The college offers skill development courses in Beauty and Wellness, Nursing and Banking in collaboration with NSHM Udaan Skills Pvt. Ltd as a part of the Prime Minister�s National Skill Development Programme. These skill development courses are open to thelearners of the institution as well as women participants from neighbouringareas and institutions. These courses create off-campus employment opportunities for the beneficiaries or inspire them to become self-employed. The unique outcome is that the learners of our institution, girl students from neighbouring TDB College and women of the neighbour hood have immensely benefited from enrolling in these courses. This practice in itself distinguishes us from the rest.

Empowermentthrough Student Counselling and Career counselling

Thecollege creates a platform for student counselling through the mentoringsystem. The students can avail themselves of different opportunities in careercounselling that are arranged by the college authorities from time to time. Thestudents and their guardians also benefit from informal counselling with thePrincipal and the teachers on specific problems of early marriage and othersocial and sensitive issues.

Respectingthe motto of Raniganj Girls� College, �Asato ma sadgamay tamaso ma jyotirgamay�,the priority and thrust area for �Institutional Distinctiveness� wasuniversally adopted as �Empowerment of Women�.

Empowering womenthrough knowledge and education

Westrongly believe in the age old dictum that �Knowledge is Power�. Acquisitionof knowledge leads to emancipation. This is more pertinent for us as ours is awomen�s college. We visualize our students as active agents who work towardseradication of gender inequality in the society as they become empowered byacquisition of higher education. We are always conscious of the quality ofeducation provided to the students. For this purpose apart from the traditionalmethods of teaching and learning different types of innovative methods inteaching and learning has been adopted by the college like ICTenabled presentations, use of Smart Board, screening films and documentaries,invited lectures, publicationof the Departmental Wall Magazines, interdisciplinary seminarsand workshops, theme based exhibition by different departments of the college,educational tours and so on. A significant innovation in teaching is theunilateral hosting of the academic pursuits of students of Psychology ofDurgapur Women�s College in our college. Again, during the lockdown in thepandemic situation due to COVID-19, the college made every effort to conductonline classes and provide different links for useof Library resources by the students from the safety of their home.

Empowerment throughfinancial assistance

Ourobjective is to enlighten the girl students from socially and economicallybackward sections of the society and ensure that financial disability is not aconstraint for the needy learner to pursue college education. Hence the collegestrives to provide different types of financial assistance, scholarships andendowments to the students or help in facilitating scholarships and financialassistance provided by the government and different non- governmental organizations.The college during the lockdown also helped several students hailing fromfinancially weak background through partial or complete waiver of  examination fees, Practical fees, LaboratoryFees, Library fees and caution money etc.

Empowerment through co-curricular,extra-curricular and extension activities

Webelieve that education entails comprehensive development of the learners�personality. The learners are encouraged to participate in co-curricular,extra-curricular and extension activities like participating in seminars andworkshops, group discussions, cultural programme, Sports, NSS, NCC, participatein educational tours and the like. The college also motivates the learners ofthe college to help the children of a nearby orphanage, Ananda Ashram,periodically. These activities play a significant role in developing thepersonality of the student, increase their self-esteem, built their confidence,make them socially aware of current burning issues in the society and practicallyempower them to handle the larger issues and problems of the society. They alsodevelop a sense of gratitude and indebtedness to the institution and respectfor the society.

Empowerment throughskill development and rendering the learners employable

Thecollege offers skill development courses in Beauty and Wellness, Nursing andBanking in collaboration with NSHM UdaanSkills Pvt. Ltd as a part of the Prime Minister�s National Skill DevelopmentProgramme. Additionally, in the academic session 2019-20, value added coursesin Soft Toy making and Face mask making have been conducted by our teacher, DrRituparna Ghosh,HOD, Geography Department. These skill development courses areopen to the learners of the institution as well as women participants from neighbouringareas and institutions. These courses create off-campus employment opportunities for the beneficiaries or inspire them to become self-employed. The uniqueoutcome is that the learners of our institution, girl students from neighbouringTDB College and women of the neighbourhood have immensely benefited fromenrolling in these courses in previous years. This practice in itselfdistinguishes us from the rest. A Memorandum ofUnderstanding has been signed with Smart Alliance Joint Services Pvt. Ltd on 3^rdDecember2019, to enhance skills of the students basically aimed at making themfinancially independent irrespective of their education or social standing.

Empowerment throughStudent Counselling and Career counselling

Thecollege creates a platform for student counselling through the mentoringsystem. The students can also avail the different opportunities in careercounselling that are arranged by the college authorities from time to time. Thestudents and their guardians also benefit from informal counselling with thePrincipal and the teachers on specific problems of early marriage and othersocial and sensitive issues. During the lockdown, a seminar titled �MentalHealth of Students and Parents, Specially for Girls Students and Mothers Duringthe Pandemic Situation� was organized by IQAC on 4^th September 2020to address mental health issues stemming from the fear andconcerns about COVID-19 among students and their parents.

Inabidance with the motto of Raniganj Girls’ College (“asato ma sadgamay tamasoma jyotirgamay”), the priority and thrust area for “Institutional Distinctiveness”has been unanimously earmarked as “Empowerment of Women”. With the pandemicthreat from COVID-19 and subsequent lockdown, the academic year 2020-21 hasbeen exceptionally stressful in the life of a learner demanding unprecedentedpoise on part of the both the learner and the educator. Yet we remainedpositive and focussed our endeavours in empowering the learners in thefollowing manner:

Teaching-Learning

Theteaching and learning process was organized on the virtual platform. E-studymaterials and different links for use of library resources were provided to thestudents to be accessed from the safety of their home. Examinations comprisinginternal assessments and End Semester Examinations were also conducted online.Additionally webinar, lectures, awareness programme and the like were organizedon the digital platform and digital wall magazine and e-newsletters publishedto complement the teaching learning process

FinancialAssistance

Ourobjective is to enlighten the girl students from socially and economicallybackward sections of the society and ensure that financial disability is not aconstraint for the needy learner to pursue college education. Hence the collegehelped to facilitate scholarships and financial assistance provided by thegovernment. Simultaneously the college waived the laboratory and building feesof the students in different semesters. The college also facilitated feespayment through the online portal Razor pay as an alternative to physicalmethods of payment

Co-curricular,extra-curricular and extension activities

Webelieve that education entails comprehensive development of the learners’personality. The learners were encouraged to participate in co-curricular,extra-curricular and extension activities like participating in webinars andworkshops, student webinar, cultural programme, Sports, NSS, NCC, exhibitionsand publication of digital wall magazines and e- newsletters. This year, the collegedistributed woollen garments to the inhabitants of Andal Parivar Social WelfareSociety, a home for homeless children during lockdown. Again, the studentsalong with the alumni of the college also distributed food grains and foodpackets during the pandemic situation. The students are encouraged toparticipate in these types of activities that play a significant role indeveloping the personality of the student, increase their self-esteem, builttheir confidence, make them socially aware of current burning issues in thesociety and practically empower them to handle the larger issues and problemsof the society. They also develop a sense of gratitude and indebtedness to theinstitution and respect for the society. Collaboration with the Department ofEcological Studies, International Centre for Ecological Engineering of theUniversity of Kalyani has successfully helped to set up a training centre invermicomposting. Efforts are being made to promote pisciculture and plantnursery in the college.

Empowerment through careerguidance, counselling, skill development initiatives and placement

Thecollege creates a platform for student counselling through the mentoringsystem. The students also availed the different opportunities in careercounselling that were arranged on the online platform by the collegeauthorities from time to time. The students and their guardians benefit frominformal counselling with the Principal and the teachers on specific problemsof early marriage and other social and sensitive issues. During the lockdown,an online awareness programme on stress management was organized by theDepartment of Physical Education in collaboration with IQAC on 21st August2021. Another online programme related to awareness on Women’s Health and COVID19 Pandemic was organized by the NSS units on 26th September 2021.

Thisyear, the college initiated Certificate courses in Santali and income taxpractice as an initiative towards skill development programme of theinstitution. Additionally skill development courses have been conducted inWoollen Beanie Cap and Woollen shoes making. Further, a MOU has been signedwith Next Generation Scientist Private Limited, Lucknow for setting up theBioscience Excellence Centre in the college and providing Entrepreneurial SkillDevelopment and Outcome Based Learning. Two students have been placed throughcampus placement held on 7th December 2021.

A profoundly revered sloka in the Indian classicalsystem of education, it means “lead us from untruthto truth and from darkness to light” and this broadly encompassthe mission and vision of the college. Thus the priority and thrust area of ourinstitutional distinctiveness is ascertained through “Empowerment of Women”.

Empowering womenthrough knowledge and education

We strongly believe in the age old dictum that “Knowledge is Power”.Acquisition of knowledge leads to emancipation. This is more pertinent for usas ours is a women’s college. We visualize our students as active agents whowork towards eradication of gender inequality in the society as they becomeempowered by acquisition of higher education. We are always conscious of thequality of education provided to the students. For this purpose apart from thetraditional methods of teaching and learning different types of innovativemethods in teaching and learning has been adopted by the college like ICTenabled presentations, use of Smart Board, screening films and documentaries,invited lectures, publication of the Departmental Wall Magazines,interdisciplinary seminars and workshops, theme based exhibition by differentdepartments of the college, educational tours and so on. Again, during thelockdown in the pandemic situation due to COVID-19, the college made everyeffort to conduct online classes on different social networking applicationsand provide e-study material and different links for the use of Libraryresources by the students from the safety of their home.

Empowerment throughfinancial assistance

As our objective is to enlighten the girl students from diverse sociallyand economically backward sections of the society and ensure that financial disabilityis not a constraint for the needy learnerto pursue college education.Hence thecollege strives to provide different types of financial assistance,scholarships and endowments to the students or help in facilitatingscholarships and financial assistance provided by the government and differentnon- governmental organizations. The college during the lockdown also helpedseveral students hailing from financially weak background through partial orcomplete waiver of different types of fees related to education. The collegealso facilitated fees payment through the online portal Razor pay as analternative to physical methods of payment. Currently online payments arefacilitated through SBI Collect

Empowerment throughco-curricular, extra-curricular and extension activities

We believe that education entails comprehensive development of thelearners’ personality. The learners are encouraged to participate inco-curricular, extra-curricular and extension activities like participating inseminars and workshops, group discussions, cultural programme, Sports, NSS, NCC,participate in educational tours and the like. These activities play asignificant role in developing the personality of the student, increase theirself-esteem, built their confidence, make them socially aware of the currentburning issues in the societyand practically empower them to handle the largerissues and problems of the society. They also develop a sense of gratitude andindebtedness to the institution and respect for the society.

Empowerment through skilldevelopment

Thecollege initiated Certificate courses in Santali and income tax practice as aninitiative towards skill development programme in 2021. MOUs has been Next GenerationScientist Private Limited (2021) and renewed with NSHM Udaan Skills Pvt. Ltd (2020) toenhance skills of the students basically aimed at making them financiallyindependent irrespective of their education or social standing.

The college creates a platform for student counselling throughthe mentoring system. The students and their guardians also benefit frominformal counselling with the Principal and the teachers on specific problemsof early marriage and other social and sensitive issues.

Keeping in mind the stressful environment during thelockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic, webinars have been organized on stressmanagement and women’s health and COVID 19 pandemic.

Coaching in NET has helped one student to succeed inSLET examinations. The students also avail the different opportunities incareer counselling that have been arranged in the physical as well as thevirtual mode by the college authorities from time to time. Students have beenplaced through campus recruitmentin 2021 and 2022.