Maharashtra: Missing out on campus experience, say FYJC students

Last year, when Ryan Viegas passed his Class 10 board exam with 92%, he was elated

Last year, when Ryan Viegas passed his Class 10 board exam with 92%, he was elated. Viegas, who wanted to pursue Arts, got a seat at one of the city’s most prestigious colleges — St Xavier’s College. In his school days, he had heard a lot about the excitement of being in one of the top colleges of the city and wanted to experience all of it himself. However, with the Covid-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown, colleges in the city and the state remained close and lakhs of students like Viegas had to make do with virtual experiences of college life.

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“I was really excited about getting to go to the college of my choice. I had heard a lot of things about the college and the activities there. Academically, I am very happy with the online teaching but the physical experience is something I miss,” said Viegas. When asked about the difference between the offline and online format, he said, “Since I do not know what it is to physically attend college, I cannot even make that comparison.”

While the pandemic and the resultant shift to online learning had an impact on students across grades, for students who entered first-year junior college (FYJC) last year, the impact was more pronounced.

For majority students in Maharashtra, FYJC is the first college experience that students get as they move from schools to junior colleges for Class 11 and 12. In Mumbai itself, nearly 224,000 students were admitted at various junior colleges across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region last year. With colleges remaining closed for physical classes, these students have been deprived of the real college experience — enjoying a new campus, meeting new teachers, making new friendships and, travelling to far-off colleges by themselves at times.

Even as junior colleges in the state began their online classes soon after the academic year began for students, the real experience of transitioning from school to college environment was lost. Students said colleges are doing their best to provide them with excellent online learning but added that they do miss out on the college experience as a whole, something that they had always looked forward to.

Nilakshi Mishra, a student from an aided school in Chembur, worked hard to get to the college of her choice. A student of Ruia College, Mishra was not able to visit her campus even once. “I had heard so many stories from my friends about college life, canteen and hangout places near the college. It all seems like a rosy picture to me now. I have barely been able to make any friends and only know a couple of students who I have worked with for my group discussions and assignments. It is really upsetting,” said Mishra.

Satram Verhani, former vice-principal of CHM College in Ulhasnagar, said this year has been particularly difficult for FYJC students. “In college, there are so many extra-curricular activities. Students get an opportunity to participate in events, various clubs etc. which they could not do to that extent this year. While we did conduct some events online, it is definitely not the same,” he added.

Aryaman Kumar, a science student enrolled at PACE Junior College in Dadar, said students cannot develop a good rapport with their teachers in the online mode. “The teachers teach us well and handle all our queries, but beyond that there is no discussion at an individual level because both teachers and students are new to each other. We have no reference point for a general conversation, which usually helps a lot in getting to know things during college days,” he added.

Teachers said it is difficult to imagine college life without a campus. “When we were in college, we learnt more in canteen and gymkhana than in classrooms. When students come to colleges from schools, a different world opens up for them altogether. Nothing can compensate for these prime years and they will never come back,” said a junior college teacher from a suburban college.

Schools and colleges in the state closed for physical classes in March 2020. While admissions to junior college began in August 2020, colleges in the state started only in December-January owing to the Supreme Court stay on admissions under the Maratha quota.

Students are now hoping that physical colleges resume soon. “I just hope we get to attend college at least for a few months. I want to take up a professional course later and this is the only college experience where I will get to study and relax a bit at the same time,” said Sana Shah, a student from Vile Parle.