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Dr Kalita believes that the biggest responsibility that he shoulders as the principal of the college is to help his students and staff members explore new perspectives, avenues and opportunities to nurture their talents.
From establishing his college as a green campus to actively promoting and participating in NSS activities; from workshops and webinars for the development of faculty members to ensuring improved learning outcomes for his students during the pandemic; Dr Kalita has launched a series of programmes and activities to bring out the best in his students and staff members.
Development of Green Campus
Home to several wildlife sanctuaries and national parks, Sonitpur is one of the greenest areas in Assam. Considering the ecological significance of the district, Dr Kalita decided to transform the Rangapara College campus into a green campus. The green college campus is a commitment made by the college administration and its students to the environment and sustainability of their surrounding ecosystem. Furthermore, the campus has instilled a sense of pride and responsibility among its students for the conservation of nature. Taking this ahead, the green campus study and maintenance has also been made a formal part of the fieldwork-based paper of Environmental Studies at the UG Level.
Click Here to Watch Rangapara College’s Green Campus
Due to Dr Kalita’s efforts, Rangapara College has also been awarded the District Green Champion Certificate of Sonitpur District for the Academic Year 2021-22 by the Mahatma Gandhi National Council of Rural Education – Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education. The award celebrates the institution for successfully setting up the Swachhta Action Plan Committee, adoption of implementation of the best practices in the areas of Sanitation, Hygiene, Waste Management, Water Management, Energy Management and Greenery Management.
Click here to watch highlights of Rangapara College's Green Campus Initiatives
Key Activities and Initiatives
In addition to the development of the Rangapara College campus as Green Campus, Dr Kalita has also launched a series of student development and faculty development activities and initiatives on the campus to enable and empower them to grow in their academic and professional career.
Blended Teaching-Learning Seminar: Pandemic was a tough time for students as well as faculty members alike. While during the 1st wave of the pandemic, the digital divide and access to the internet and gadgets proved to be a challenge, the 2nd wave brought forth its own set of challenges, i.e., dealing with the hybrid mode of learning wherein the college was partially operational in physical and online modes. To address this challenge and equip his staff members with adequate tools and knowledge, Dr Kalita organized seminars and workshops on Blended Teaching-Learning Mode for the faculty members. The workshop focused on how to ensure academic continuity amid disruptions and adapt to the new normal of hybrid learning mode.
Environment Workshop: Being awarded the green campus award, Dr Kalita took the responsibility of making faculty members and students equal stakeholders in the maintenance and sustenance of the ecological balance on campus. To this end, a series of seminars and workshops were held on campus to sensitize students and faculty members towards environmental challenges and concerns and to highlight their role in ensuring that the campus remained clean and green.
Free TET Coaching: The college organized free coaching and training for students for the Teachers Eligibility Test on Campus to help aspirants from poor and rural backgrounds to get adequate guidance and training to take on the competitive examination.
Social Outreach Programmes through NSS: Along with his responsibilities towards his students and staff members, Dr Kalita also understood the part he had to play for the society and people around it. To this end, he coordinated several social outreach programmes with the help of his students. With the help of volunteers from the National Service Scheme of Rangapara College, Dr Kalita launched a food distribution drive to poor and marginalized sections.
The NSS team ensured the availability of food to over 50 Needy and Homeless people during the pandemic. In addition to this, he also held a door-to-door awareness campaign to promote social distancing and guide people to follow COVID Appropriate Behaviour. The work and social outreach programmes carried out by Dr Kalita and his team have been recognized by the Mahatma Gandhi National Council of Rural Education. The recognition lauds him for the formation and management of 5 Volunteer teams as part of the Beat COVID Campaign Initiative.
Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan: Under the initiative of Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan, Rangapara College adopted 4 villages in Sonitpur District. Since then, the college has been actively involved in ensuring the holistic development of the village and its people. During the 2nd wave of the pandemic, under the leadership of Dr Kalita, student volunteers have distributed Winter Clothes and Books to the needy people of Adopted Villages. On similar lines, people of the adopted villages have been sensitized about the precautionary measures against COVID-19 and a sanitiser distribution drive has also been carried out in these villages.
In addition to this, the college has also adopted one Orphanage in the district and is continually working for the betterment of the children. The college has admitted all students from the Orphanage into the College free of cost. In addition to this, children of the orphanage have also been provided free textbooks and other study material.
Start-up and Incubation Centre: Taking advantage of the geographic location of the college, Dr Kalita plans to launch a start-up and incubation centre on the campus. He plans on leveraging the entrepreneurial spirit of his students and fostering and nurturing their talents into working start-ups under Skill-India and Make-in-India initiatives of the Govt. of India.
Free Online Education: Another initiative of Dr Kalita which is expected to go live soon is offering free online education. With the help of faculty members at Rangapara College, he plans on creating a series of Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCS) that will help students adapt to the hybrid mode of learning. To this end, the college has already invested heavily in the development of necessary infrastructure including setting up a new state-of-the-art smart classroom equipped with the latest ICT technologies for the creation of e-contents.
Dr Ranjan Kalita is a finalist for the Outstanding Educational Leader Award Because… through his constant efforts and motivation, he has helped Rangapara College make significant achievements in teaching and research. Through his various teacher and student training webinars and workshops and social outreach programmes, he has not only inspired students and staff members to work for the college but also for society.
To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Dr Ranjan Kalita Click Here.