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Nepra
(Punjab): At a time when the world is increasingly
moving towards paperless offices, the campus of a Punjab-based
educational group is 75 percent on the way there. Not only that -
there is heavy reliance on social networking sites and new media
applications for communicating between students and teachers.
"Today, we are 75 percent paper free. We have come up with more
ideas to totally eliminate the use of paper to the extent
possible," Anshu Kataria, chairman of the Aryans Group of Colleges
(AGC), located in Nepra village, about 35 km from Chandigarh, told
IANS.
Thus, instead of crowding at notice boards, AGC students reach for
their smartphones for information on upcoming events, notices,
class schedules and even date-sheets. They also access their smartphones or switch on their laptops and computers whenever they
want to organize seminars and the like or want to inform their
teachers about taking leave.
All this not just makes the campus appear technologically updated
but has also dramatically reduced the use of paper.
"Every single paper tells a tale of trees being cut and the
maximum amount of paper is being used by educational institutions.
When we have technology at our disposal and all the students have
smartphones and laptops, why not use them instead, in whatever way
possible?" Kataria asked.
The campus and the hostels are also wi-fi enabled.
"Communication mostly takes place through laptops or smartphones,
via mails and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
We are also in the process of starting video calling through Skype
and Google Plus among teachers and students. We are holding
special sessions with students and teachers of various streams to
motivate them to avoid using paper," Kataria stated.
Circulars, notices and other paper forms of disseminating academic
information and keeping students' records have been already
replaced by e-mails, text messages and video chat technologies
like I-Chat and Skype.
"I am proud of my college and I am sure other education
institutions will also be encouraged to follow us. Merely
celebrating environment days will not help; rather initiatives
like this make you feel at every point that you are doing
something for your environment," Waseem Khan, a hosteller who is
studying for a masters in business administration, told IANS.
"This is a way of doing our bit towards saving the environment.
Apart from reducing the use of paper, this will make the entire
system of our college very transparent and even our parents will
be able to access information about us to evaluate our progress,"
Harpreet Kaur, a final year BBA (bachelors in business
administration) student, told IANS.
AGC even plans to execute the weekly and monthly examination
online wherein students will take the tests on the computers with
instant evaluation that displays the result as the test ends.
The records of the students' attendance, the exam scores and other
vital information are also planned to be made available online so
that these are accessible to students, parents and the teachers at
just the click of a mouse.
Located on the Chandigarh-Patiala highway, AGC imparts education
in various fields including engineering, management, computer
science and nursing.
(Ritika Sharma could be contacted at ritikasharma2487@gmail.com)
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