When inquired, why would any parent ask his children to pick a technical course uninterestedly though they are enthusiastic about learning something else which falls under this general degree category, ‘a graduate in general discipline can barely earn any penny while a professional degree holder can apparently sock his fare as a fresher’, was the answer conferred by them.

Boycotted Class rooms during the fight with HOD, Credit: Divina Eileen

“My son is weak at mathematics. Neither he did score much in his 12th standard nor was his Eamcet rank satisfying. I paid 4 lac’s to get him a seat in ECE branch here, which means that I am buying him a degree for 7 lac’s, if he troubles himself to complete it in  4 years”,  says Mr. K.V.Prasad, the parent of a fresher from a reputed engineering college, wearing a painful smile on his face.

On an average yearly 150 engineering colleges are spurting, while not all of them are certainly choked. No wonder, arriving of umpteen organizations offering the most happening courses indirectly boosted the occupational openings to the people in teaching field but are the lecturers justifying their constraint?

There are modes where a graduate who has just done with his course, is a professor in the same institute to his juniors.  “Our C lecturer is a 2008 pass out, from our college. Its not that a gleaming graduate should not teach but the thing is, the ideas we got to work on are not vivid to us at least to the basic level. Hand on the board, eyes on the paper. If he forgets the day’s topic sheet, he can’t take the class. I wonder if I can ever be a prime engineer” complains Vivek, another fresher.

A fresh graduate teaching in a reputed institute, Credit: Raghu

Its vivid that education system has become a business, in fact is the most profiting transaction, leaving behind the absolute values and the concept of bestowing knowledge. An organization with a sophisticated infrastructure, its connectivity to various parts of the city, accreditation is all that matters to the educational system con-temporarily. Presuming experienced faculty, imparting conceptual excellence, encouragement of new ideas, motivating spirit is now a mere expectation and hopefully is an honest learners dream for the moment.

Half a lac fee, one lac diplomats or more are into the Indian market per year and solely any of them are sound with the fundamentals. Demanding loads of money, institutions don’t even bother to offer students the rudiment knowledge which is rightfully theirs. Colleges that wary to justify can be count on fingers.

“I was shocked to hear the response of our HOD, when we approached him with a cavil. Our OOPS lecturer was supposed to be replaced as per the HOD’s will. When we inquired the same, he literally dismissed the statement about the issue. He continued to be careless and did not show up until and unless we students boycotted the classes the other day, in demand of an efficient professor” laments Benny a 2nd year student from DVR.

The scenario is no different in many of the organizations. Hardly have we found students satisfied with the faculty, no matter to which discipline they belong to in particular. ‘Why paying so much of money to the unworthy institutions while there are many academies, with ace professors costing not more than Rs.2000/- per subject, offering the same course but of  better quality?’,  is the latest question among  youngsters.

Freshers Set To Leave After The College Hours, Credit:Raghu

Academy Offering Tution for professional courses, Credit: Divina Eileen

If we persist to race for a degree from a recognized institute with no proper basics, getting one is easy, but in what way will it serve when one fails to practice it.  “We study, get a job and start studying right from the beginning for its application due to the lack of elementary awareness. We utterly could focus on the concepts as we were made to race for marks. Marks were all. We had striven for a degree then and now we are struggling to defend it” regrets Prabhu, a crude B.tech graduate.

Is there any other alternative apart from complaining, demurring, and wishing for a positive mutation in the system? Ultimately students are the payers and they are the sufferers.  A change in them will alone initiate the advancement in the educational system. Well, when and how is yet to be witnessed.

“Hey ikkadara! Seniors ni wish cheyyalani theleeda? Enti aa look? Dress Code follow avvamani seniors cheppaleda? Chetilo aa watch enti?” Any Osmanian would’ve heard these set of dialogues scores of times, every time they were outside their classroom, their ‘safe zone’. There is a widespread belief that the UCE, O.U.(A) located in the Osmania University Campus is the worst place, when it comes to ragging. So how true is it? Team VY finds out through a survey comprising of a set of interesting questions.

Out of 21 students surveyed, 17 of them felt that this form of ‘interaction’, which is fast replacing the word ‘ragging’ didn’t exceed limits or rather was friendly. Imposing a dress code on the juniors, Formal Introduction, popularly known as the BD (short for Bio data), repeating some lame ‘multiplication tables’, bringing recharge cards and goodies for seniors, writing their records and assignments, fooling around are some of the mild versions of it. On the flip side, physical and verbal abuse also exist. While some students take ragging in their stride and try enjoying getting ragged, there are a few others, who refuse to take in the inhuman behavior of their seniors. Seniors probably rag juniors because they themselves, as freshers, were ragged by their seniors. Thus, the ‘tradition’ is kept alive.

The College Management, of course, has been striving hard in curbing this evil. There are colorful posters all over the campus reminding students about the trouble they could land into if they resorted to anything, which could even remotely be considered ragging. Apart from this, Professors and Lecturers give out verbal reminders too. The lectures are of course met with sniggers, for all the attempts to discipline the ‘just-free-2nd yearites’, go down the drain. And ‘interaction’ takes place within a 5mts radius of location of the Anti-Ragging posters.

Interestingly, some of the present 3rd yearites made a mention of the Tollywood flick ‘Happy days’, when asked about their ragging experiences. Recalls Anvita (Name changed), “We were 1st years when the movie Happy Days released and we had experienced a few weeks of ragging by then. Suddenly, we could notice the change in the way our seniors ragged us. The movie surely had a huge impact on this form of ‘interaction’. Seniors were making use of those dialogues, the most popular ones being – ‘juniors seniors ni question cheyyakudadu’ and  ‘You went to the cafeteria?’ (With expressions which would put even Mr. Bean to shame!) ‘Juniors cafeteria ki velladam college charitra lone ledhu!’ – Ouf! Now what else is the cafeteria meant for? It was really amusing and I couldn’t help but laugh at them. We were even made to enact scenes from the Movie, like they couldn’t think of better or more creative ways to rag us”.

The DJ... a hotspot for ragging Credit: St.Anik

Says Anirudh*, a 1st yearite, “Ragging according to me should be just a friendly interaction with seniors… To know more about them, about college etc. I am strictly against the typical ‘I am senior, you are junior. Fold your hands and stand. Wish me. Say sir/mam. Buy me recharge cards …’ etc. I expected a literal ‘interaction’, as in, about yourself etc. and few fun acts like making you take an ant for a walk. None of it happened. And I have decided that I will not rag my juniors. Will rather be a good friend of them. Ragging was not that severe anyways. There were a few members of the anti-ragging squad roaming around in the campus. The H.O.D and the Profs also take this issue quite seriously. But a few classmates of mine became very goods friends of a few seniors through interaction”.

Another 1st yearite, Preetham* says, “Initially we were scared to take the MMTS to college because of the large number of seniors taking the same trains. Also, Jaamai Osmania is one of the hotspots for ragging. We were made to sing songs every time a train came and it was a little embarrassing. The laughs of the passers by made it more humiliating”. Arjun*, an ex student recalls, “I was made to dance like R.Narayanamurthy for the song ‘Errajanda errajanda enniyalo’ in the bus stop. It was very funny and got a little embarrassing later when the regular commuters started recognizing me and giving me smiles like they saw Mr. Bean”.

Since OUCE doesn’t have college buses, unlike other engineering colleges, there are no chances of being ragged by seniors while commuting, unless, you happen to take the same route home. As mentioned above, the Jamai Osmania Railway Station is a ‘hotspot’ for ragging, as a number of students travel by the MMTS. Ragging in bus stops is milder compared to ‘Jamai’ (as it is popularly known) because of the frequency of buses and a larger number of escape routes. Other ‘hotspots’ for ragging include the Parking area, the ‘DJ’ (Diamond Jubilee Library), the tree between the Physics and Chemistry Laboratories. Outside Campus, freshers are ragged at ‘CCD’ (Café coffee day), ‘Friends Bakery’, Shivam road bus stop and a few other places.

Four years pass by in a jiffy, and when it is all said and done and you are in your office/job, thinking about college, you ponder the kind of the student life that you were a part of – brings a huge grin onto your face. Ragging, even in its silliest forms has seen friendships blossom. Even otherwise, a college campus cannot exist completely outside the system that enfolds it. The prevention of ragging through draconian rules may not be completely possible. But ragging in OUCE has seen a steep decline compared to what it was. Ragging is fast becoming a case study for Sigmund Freud, nothing more.

* Names changed to protect identity.

Education is not only the driving force for a leader to move ahead in life, but also the motivation to take an occasional pause and reflect back, connect with one’s alma mater and share the richness of one’s journey… The Alumni Meet of the Department of Electronics and Communication, University College of Engineering, Osmania University (A) was conducted on December 28th, 2008, Sunday at the ECE auditorium. The Meet was conducted as a part of the Department’s Golden Jubilee Celebrations. The Meet opened at 10:00 am with a great enthusiasm and a sense of nostalgia in the air as the batches of 40’s and 50’s were also seen. The Meet began with Prof. Alladi Prabhakaran, Senior Retired Professor and Former Head of the Department delivering his plenary address.

A series of engaging talks were delivered by the Alumni, consisting of experiences from their college days and most importantly, on reaching goals and projecting dreams. The student batches were only too happy to have gained a lot from the talks and finding new sources of inspiration from their seniors. The Alumni talked among other things,  about forming and strengthening the roots of the Alumni Association which could do a lot to the Department and its students. Since the members of the Alumni occupy leading positions in their respective fields, these are a testimony to  the high standards set by the Department. During his talk Maj. Gen. Bagga, an alumnus, said, ” Through the alumni we’ve got to nurture the next generation –alumni children — to make sure they do not lose their roots and there we’ve got to think about rendering the services to the community in we live and work. So this is not just thinking only about India. We should think about the community — how to serve them.”

Mr.Krishna Chaitanya, 2008 pass out, who was the youngest among the alumni present in the Meet, had a message to the student audience, that this College helped define us and helped us become what we are today. We first organized an alumni meet last year. Four Ex-students turned up but I’m truly happy to see the number increase to 50+. According to many Ex-students, the college has changed dramatically since many of its alumni studied here, and the Alumni Meet provided the perfect opportunity for all of them to revisit the campus and reminiscence their experiences. This nostalgic visit back to campus made the alumni feel at home and brought excitement into the interaction.

The student-alumni interaction session was followed by lunch at the Osmania University Guest House, after which the alumni gathered back to the ECE auditorium to discuss and form the Alumni Association. It was decided that the Association would have an Advisory and an Executive Committee. Many suggestions were tabled on ways to help the Department and it’s current students to help in their careers and to achieve their goals.

All-in-all, the day resulted in sharing of reminiscent times, new networks built, rich experiences shared and a lot of appreciation conveyed by the Alumni to the Department and its students for such an exemplary event management. Although time and tide and the vagaries of advancing years have dwindled the numbers and vigors of the Department, there was a splendid turnout. The all-pervasive feeling of the occasion is extracted in this quote by Albert Einstein- “Education is what survives, after you’ve forgotten what you memorized.”

The Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, University College of Engineering, Osmania University, organised RACE-08 ( Recent Advances in Communication Engineering) – an International Conference as a part of the Department’s Golden Jubilee celebrations. This international conference took place at the PGRRCDE (Prof. G.Ram Reddy Centre for Distance Education) at the Osmania University Campus, from 20th to 23rd December, 2008.

The objective of this conference was to exchange research activities between participants from the academia, industries and Research and Development Organizations. One of the most emerging fields such as communication engineering was chosen as the theme. On the 20th of December, tutorials were organised. Dr.B.Yegnanarayana, IIIT, Hyderabad talked about ‘Speech Signal Processing’; Prof.R.Gangopadhyaya, IIT Kharagpur on ‘Photonic Communication’; Talks on ‘VLSI Design’, ‘Wireless Communication’ and ‘VLSI Testing’ were also given by Dr.Srinivas Katkoori, University of South Florida, USA , Dr.Kishore Mehrotra, Mimomax Wireless Limited, New Zealand and by Dr.Nagesh Tamarapalli, AMD,Bangalore respectively.

The Inaugural function took place on the 21st of December with Dr.Avinash Chander, Director of Advanced Systems Laboratory, Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO), Hyderabad and Programme Director of ‘Agni’ as the Chief Guest. Prof. T.Tirupathi Rao ,Vice Chancellor of Osmania University and Prof. A.Venugopal Reddy, Principal of University College of Engineering, O.U.(A) were also present. The dignitaries highlighted the importance of communication engineering. Prof. Kakarla Subba Rao, Head of the Department of the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering and Convener of RACE-08 expressed that “Young researchers will get stimulated by the innovative ideas put forward by the academicians that can lead to product development by the industry engineers. All of us look forward to a fruitful interaction between young and old researchers that will lead to advancement in communication engineering, education and research.” The achievements of the department in the last fifty years were also highlighted. Prof. V.M.Pandharipande, Senior Professor in the department and Chairman, Technical Committee of RACE-08 said that it was a wonderful coincidence that the DRDO, the NASA and our department were celebrating 50 years of their existence this year. The first day also saw the release of the Souvenir and the Proceedings CD which contained reports on the major activities by the Department, Abstracts of the invited Lectures, Contributed papers. There was a cultural programme organised by the students of the Department at Hotel Katriya De Royal, Begumpet after the keynote address and conference sessions.

On December 22nd, there were talks by distinguished speakers such as Prof.C.Jay Kuo, Prof. Andre Kaup, Prof.Takao Nishitani, Prof.S.K.Mitra, Prof.Ramsted, apart from the participants. These were followed by a cultural program by the students of 2nd year and 4th year B.E.., consisting of classical and folk dances and also a performance by the ‘Tyrant’, which comprised of two students from the department. On Day 3,Padmashri.Dr.Vijay Kumar Saraswat, Dr.Ashit Talukder, Prof.Moncef Gabbouj, Prof.Ahmed Tewfik, Prof.K.Subbarangaiah, Dr.Suresh Reddy delivered lectures. This was followed by a Panel Discussion on “Engineering Education in India” which saw the participation of eminent speakers like Prof. Alladi Prabhakar, Prof.D.N.Reddy, Prof.Bhoopathy, Prof.Deekshitulu and Shri Krishna Vedula in the session. The audience also actively participated in the discussions.

The conference was sponsored by Electronic Corporation of India Ltd. (ECIL) (Platinum sponsor), Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (Silver Sponsor), and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE) and was supported by Department of Science and Technology, Council Of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) and RCI (Research Centre, Imarat).

Every great idea is the child of a burning desire, a spark of inspiration and when we encounter obstacles, our restless mind gives birth to a fresh new spark…an idea! These little sparks create an immortal flame of passion within us… an intense emotion… a burning desire for a cause or an activity. Take ‘Improving India’ for example, It is supposed to be a matter very dear to our heart. So, if that is one of your passions… what are you doing about it? And NO!… I don’t mean joining communities/groups on orkut/facebook or watching “Rang de basanti”. What I mean is ACTION and not throwing the blame on a six-lettered word – S.Y.S.T.E.M (which includes me). We all wish india becomes a super-power etc. etc… We make use of it in all  essay competitions, speeches, but are we doing anything about it? Are we doing anything about the root cause of all the problems we are facing today… ‘Illiteracy’?

Here’s a story of Three students-people of action and not words, who took up the challenging job of educating rural youth.

In December 2006, G.Anurag, a student of Mechanical Engg., G.Srinivas and Sneha Redla, students of Civil Engg.of  OUCE came up with this idea. When Srinivas, told them about the plight of his village, Arkapalli-(a remote village in Mahboobnagar dist.), a village which does not have a junior college, has a small ZP High school with irregular staff and of course, students thirsty for knowledge but helpless due to their economic conditions. Students, who were not aware of the endless possibilities the world had to offer because nobody made it big. The best-educated was probably a person who completed his Intermediate and ended up as an Auto-driver or an Insurance agent. They simply attended school because they had to (that’s what the Radio and T.V said). As time passed, parents began to think that their child would add to their income if he/she stopped going to school and lent them a helping hand in the fields. That was when the number of drop-outs started exceeding the number of students getting admitted. They heard about jobs in the IT sector and engineers but did not know how to go about it until a teacher at the school helped Srinivas write the entrance exam to the AP residential school and later join the APRJC. Srinivas finally cracked the EAMCET and got into OUCE and that’s when SPRUHA was born!

In the Sankranthi holidays in 2007, SPRUHA (whose number grew to 10 students of OUCE) visited Arkapalli and decided to adopt the ZPHS. They stayed back for a week during which they conducted classes in English and basic Grammar, demonstrated and helped perform experiments in Physics and Chemistry (with kits borrowed form the Dept. of Physics and Chemistry of the college) and helped the students facing their Board exams that year by providing them with material and Previous Question papers. In the following month,a free health camp was conducted in association with the Red Cross and the Lions Club. Medicines were distributed to students suffering from ailments and about 10 cataract eye operations were performed. Slowly,funds started pouring in and SPRUHA distributed books, dictionaries, story books, comics, educational magazines among the students, contributed a few books to the school library and also sponsored Jangaiah, Yamuna for their Intermediate education, Janardhana Chary and Yadaiah for their B.E. degree. The number of students willing to lend a helping hand increased along with the ideas to obtain funds.In August, a food fest was organised and “Lage Raho Munnabhai” was screened in the college auditorium.

September came and Eco-Friendly Ganesh idols were sold in a stall set-up in the OU campus. What made the idols special apart from being eco-friendly and the fact that the money paid towards them was funding education was that they were being home-delivered on request! During the tech-fests of the various depts. in OUCE, T-shirts and SPRUHA note-books were sold. Gradually,SPRUHA spread its branches in other colleges like CBIT, Vasavi College of Engineering, BIET, MVSREC.

This Ganesh-Chaturthi, the stall selling Ganesh idols was set-up again and this time the sales increased notably. Says Sneha Redla, one of the founders “We have always been having a lot of help from our friends from other colleges. Even medicos come forward for this noble cause. My friend Deepthi, from Deccan always manages to sell the maximum number of idols through her contacts”. Celebrating their second anniversary this year, SPRUHA seeks to adopt slum areas in Hyderabad thus helping bring the change we all wish to see in our country. Such instances surely would go a long way in igniting the passions and thrust to come up in life and do something good for the community, the State and the country.