Stephen’s to launch mentor programme

A faculty member from a department other than the one a student is enrolled in will be appointed mentor, reports Anuradha Mukherjee.

Imagine being 18 years old and away from the protective environment of your home. For most it is a journey ridden with anxiety, doubt and problems when they first move to a hostel in a Delhi University college. From this year, St. Stephen’s College is launching a mentoring programme under which a faculty member will take a first year student lodged in the residence under his wings.

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A faculty member from a department other than the one a student is enrolled in will be appointed mentor. “This is one of the ways we celebrated Teacher’s Day. This scheme is basically meant for the first year students in the residence. There are 121 of them this year. All of them will be associated with a faculty member from another department who is not teaching them. Otherwise a student of economics never really gets a chance to interact with a teacher in the physics department,” said Vinod Chaudhri, media adviser, St. Stephen’s College.

Chaudhri said the teacher mentors would take care of the personal development of these students, apart from providing counsel whenever required. “In first year, the students are very young and most of them are from outside Delhi. Students living with their families can always turn to their parents. But residents also need some help. It is good to have somebody older to seek advise from,” he said.