There seems to be a belief in many residential academic campuses that hostels/dormitories are essentially for "chilling", while studying is considered something burdensome that has to be done and is best constrained to just the academic area. This is a misplaced notion. If you're genuinely interested in your field of study, studying is fun too! Hostels/dormitories should thus have a balanced culture that makes both curricular and extra-curricular activities fun.
I've consistently maintained that as long as you set aside three hours every evening for studies, you can pursue extra curricular activities of your choice without hurting your grades.
Here's something that might be worth considering in academic institutions with hostels / dormitories :
In each hostel (Emphasis: Each hostel!): A fully stocked library + textbook bank + reading room + a set of desktop computers dedicated to academic work.
Some of the above will be useful for students from relatively weak economic backgrounds.
But even otherwise, this will create an atmosphere of studying for some time every evening.
Weekdays: Attend your classes, take good notes, do your lab work, study for three hours in the evening. That's it. Done.
Weekends: Keep 'em flexible! Homework / Project Work / Reading / Problem Solving as needed. That's it. Then do other stuff.
[I also take this opportunity to advocate the setting up of excellent public libraries in each village, town and city in our country. Here is a link that explains this beautiful concept in detail: Public library - Wikipedia. In fact, this is a phenomenon I would love to see spread around the world!]
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