Bridge courses, soft skills, moral science classes: TN Arts and Science colleges have plans for first-year students 

Owing to a delay in the publication of CBSE Class XI results, admission in Arts and Science colleges in Tamil Nadu is yet to begin, but the city's colleges are using the time to design induction programmes and orientation classes for their first-year students.

To help students cope with the pandemic-induced learning loss, many colleges had introduced bridge courses for their first-year students last year. The benefits of these courses prompted the colleges to continue with them this year too.

"Students who will be joining colleges this year attended their Class XII courses on and off owing to COVID-19. The bridge courses will help them brush up on their lessons," said Lilian Jasper, principal of Women's Christian College (WCC). The college would also offer classes on Communicative English to the freshers.

Meanwhile, Ethiraj College for Women is planning a holistic orientation programme. Along with bridge courses, it is planning moral science and communication classes for its students.

"In the post-pandemic scenario, we need to focus on holistic development among the students. Hence, we have chalked out an interesting induction programme that includes talks by mental-health experts, moral-science classes, and communicative English. For the first 15 days after joining the college, the freshers will be engaged in such programmes," said S Kothai, principal of the college.

Lalitha Balakrishnan, principal of MOP Vaishnav College, said her college chalked out an induction programme to prepare the freshers for the transition from school to college. "College is completely different from school. Here, teachers will not serve everything on your plate. Instead, they will act as facilitators. During the first two weeks of the orientation, our faculty will make the students understand the difference between college and school and prepare them for their new innings in life," said Balakrishnan.

Some colleges are focusing on improving the employability of students too. From this year on, students enrolling in Guru Nanak College will have to complete at least two short-term certificate courses each year during their three-year degree programme.

"Our college has memoranda of understanding with various government agencies that offer certificate courses in banking, computer technology, stocks, English, and many others. Students need to complete at least two certificate programmes each year. By the time they finish their graduation, they will have six skill-based certificates," said MG Ragunathan, principal of Guru Nanak College.