Rethinking College Festivals

No 😊, this is not a post against college level cultural, literary and sports festivals. As the title states, its simply a nudge towards rethinking how we go about them 😊!

I started my academic career in India in 2007 at IIT Delhi. Subsequently I've taught at IIT Kanpur, IIT (BHU) Varanasi, IIIT Delhi, IIT Goa and IIT (ISM) Dhanbad. Over all these years and across all these institutes I've had an opportunity to observe students closely, critically evaluate how they fared in courses I taught, how much course material they were able to absorb and how well, and try and organize my thoughts vis a vis improvements that can be made at systemic levels to enhance academic standards without foregoing extra curricular interests and pursuits.

First and foremost: Is there a problem with things as they stand today?

One critical observation I've made is that there are many many students who are extremely bright and talented but still display serious gaps in their grasp of concepts in different courses during exams, as well as in an overall sense in their field when its time to graduate and move into the real world. This is, of course, a cause for serious concern! If colleges and universities are sending out graduates who aren't prepared to contribute to society through different professions, they aren't serving the purpose they were established for. And with a dodgy workforce, standards start dipping in different fields - something that is outright staring at us in our faces today.

Now, to try and correct this one often hears arguments against the presence of extra curricular activities in educational institutions. I have never supported such arguments. Quite on the contrary, I'm someone who has benefited from the same in my college days : I learnt how to play the guitar and still pursue this interest very very seriously.

I've also had the opportunity to experience life in some extremely good universities in the US. There too, there is ample presence of extra curricular activities. Pretty much any pursuit you can think of : sports, music, martial arts, dramatics, literary activities, dance, ... : you'll find student clubs with tremendous participation!

However, one difference between universities in the US and India, and I think this is a critically important difference that needs to be pointed out and highlighted, is this:

It is absolutely out of the question that academic activities are suspended even for one day for a cultural/ literary/sports festival when the semester is running. No one misses classes for weeks together because they are involved in "organizing" festivals, going for meetings with sponsors, etc. And no one gets permission to miss classes because they are traveling to participate in cultural festivals elsewhere.

Yes, there is an intense presence of extra curricular activities. But "on your own time please" - not at the expense of academic commitments. Period.

Extra Curricular stays exactly that: "Extra" Curricular.

So does this mean we need to do away with college festivals? No.

An arrangement that could work out beautifully in my opinion is:

A) During academic semesters: Inter Hostel / Inter Department competitions continue as they are.

B) Larger scale "Zonal Festivals" (North / South / East / West) get organized during summer and winter breaks. Students from different institutes in a zone collectively organize their zonal festival while inviting participation from colleges and universities across the country.

This is one possible way to continue to have extra curricular pursuits in educational institutions as well as festivals where the youth from different parts of the country can come together to interact culturally, literally, athletically, etc. - but without "sinks of time" popping up during the semester that disrupt the academic rhythm : which of course needs to stay on a higher priority!

I think this is a shift we need to make. There's just too much wastage of time in our educational institutions during academic sessions/semesters towards "organizing" events or going for festivals in other institutes. Lectures and tutorials are missed during the semester. Students "switch off" academically for weeks together only to somehow scramble to pass exams when they come around. This eventually leads to gaps in knowledge that inevitably lead to poor performance during college years as well as in one's professional life.

The shift suggested above is a reasonable one in my opinion and addresses an academic problem without taking away extra curricular pursuits and joys. Hopefully this post starts off discussions in different academic institutions.