Sachin Sharma
Past records vindicate that college life at NIT Srinagar had never been easy. The institute has strived at several occasions to ensure a smooth academic year.
When the students of NIT Srinagar left for their homes after completion of their spring semester,no one would have thought that the two weeks of summer vacations will stretch upto over two months.Some students chose to stay back in the hostels itself with a thought that the short break will be over soon and new academic semester will commence in no time while others belonging to far regions avoided the long journey with a hope that they will visit their homes in 3-month long winter vacations.No one had an idea that something terrible will take place in near future which will render the autumn semester pathetic.
History reveals that the academic sessions at NIT Srinagar didn’t go without any hitch.NIT Srinagar has struggled from time to time for the smooth conduct of its curricular as well as extra curricular activities.
There are numerous reasons for this.
Be it the militancy that surfaced during 90s or the strikes and the shut down calls made by different organizations or the widespread protests in the valley during 2008,2010,2013 and now in 2016 or the internal crisis of the college. Even the ‘Nature’ had been stern at different times and everyone had to feel its heavy hand.No one can forget the destruction caused by the October 2005 earthquake and in the recent times the havoc caused by September 2014 flash floods.
The life and education in the entire Kashmir region has paralyzed during different times,owing to all the above mentioned factors.
Nevertheless,the students of NIT Srinagar with some administrative support,have always been very much successful in overcoming all the difficulties and troubles with their unflinching faith,firm determination and perseverance.They have put every best possible effort at their own personal level to fight any kind of crisis in their academics .
The present scenario is no different.
While most of the engineering colleges in India are conducting midsem examinations,the registration process for autumn semester at NIT Srinagar is yet to start. Due to the ongoing unrest in valley,even the candidates who were allotted NIT Srinagar in the counselling session this year didn’t turn up in the campus.Some of them have even withdrawn their admission because of different reasons while more than 100 seats at NIT Srinagar are yet to be filled.
For those already enrolled in the college,final year students of both undergraduate and postgraduate courses are the worst sufferers.Their placements and internships have been affected very badly(even though the college has made some alternative arrangements for that).
The students in the third year of their graduation will not be able to do winter-training programs or winter internships because this year the administration has decided to curtail the winter vacations in order to compensate the loss.Being taught miscellaneous subjects in their first year,the students in the sophomore year are still awaiting for their branch specific course to start and are yet to enter their respective departments.
As there seems no end to this turmoil in the valley in near future,the student community in the whole Kashmir region is quite perplexed as the uncertainty continues regarding their future and career.
For the students of NIT, now all eyes are upon the meeting of it’s Board of Governors. People are anticipating some big decisions with high expectations of new a academic calendar.
We can just hope for some ‘good luck’ to prevail over the ‘misfortune’, giving an end to the ‘endless vacations’ and the campus soon getting a buzz of excitement and normalcy.
(The writer is a student of NIT Srinagar.)
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel