Shri Shikshayatan College B.A Review By Srijita Mukherjee

Shri Shikshayatan is one of the best colleges in Kolkata, affiliated under the University of Calcutta. It is located in Lord Sinha Road which is very close to (walking distance) the Rabindra Sadan metro station and also connected by convenient bus routes. Both the bus stop and metro station is close by the college making it very easy for students to visit from any corner of the city. The college is within the premises of the shri shikshayatan school. It's great for the students who study in the same school can take admission in their own college and because it's only for girls, it provides an environment that is safe. Also, it is highly apolitical. The admission criteria for this college is merit-based, you obviously need to have 55% in your 12th board exam and it works on the first-come, first-serve basis according to the number of seats per department. Both honours and general subjects (21 subjects precisely) are provided in graduation in all three streams of arts, science and commerce. Except these, programs like BBA and post-graduation programs like M.COM, B.ED, M.A are also facilitated. The infrastructure and hygiene is very well-maintained. This college generates career-oriented programs along with foreign language classes. An annual fest is held in the college, the college itself participates in many other affluent and well-known fests of other colleges as the name of "shri shikshayatan" is never missed out from the list. The faculty as well as the principle is very cooperative and helpful. If your goals are strong, the 3 years of your graduation would be enough to get you all groomed with great communication skills and would prepare for your career and job interviews. With the new semester system introduced in last 2 years, 75% attendance has been made compulsory for every student and nobody would cut you a slack there. Also, remember PTM from school? you're definitely going to have that after every semester exam. This is actually good as the parents will be involved and can track the records of the attendance as well as results of their children. But i can promise the college would be a different world of its own. The campus life is very happening besides academics. The Student’s Council organizes talent shows, cultural programmes, Freshers’ Welcome, Final Year Farewell and other programmes of common interest. There is a the personal college magazine, blood donation camps are held along with independence day and republic day. Being a history hons. student even we were taken on educational field trips so you can expect that no matter you're from which department. The college has also taken the initiative of providing railway concession and scholarships for its students, for years now. Although the fees of the college is quite affordable given the infrastructure and academy it provides. rank wise it is the 3rd best college in the city. Definitely check their attractive ad-on courses if you want to learn something extra that might help you get a job right away! It is NAAC and AICTE accredited grade A college established in 1955.

Shri Shikshayatan College gives opportunities to connect globally by providing foreign language courses in French, German & Chinese. Courses in Chinese & German are conducted by experienced & professionally qualified faculty provided by The School of Chinese Language and The Goethe-Institut respectively. Course in French Language is conducted in collaboration with Alliance française . The college is offering the courses collaborating with the best foreign language institutes and at very minimal rates. It has also taken the initiative of starting the student exchange programme with leading university in Kunming, China. It has also collaborated with ROADS who would provide courses like GRE and GMAT to students who seek to study abroad and desire a high quality education. Apart from this the college is academically excellent with the best faculty in hand. From regular classes to educational trips, they take it very seriously to make their students excel in their respective subjects. Hence, the college is very well known for its good results and best students.

From having the best library to bringing guest lecturers and even making everybody participate in their respective departmental journals, the professors know the best to keep the students involved and busy. Passing out from an English medium school I use to hear from many friends of mine from other colleges that the professors used Bengali language while teaching in the class or delivering lectures. I was so proud and relieved at this as our professors strictly talked and gave lectures in English. I also never found any of them talking in Bengali with a student or their colleagues outside the class, in corridors. Also, nobody is allowed to take calls in the corridors or classrooms neither can anybody fiddle with it. The college offers B.A (H), B.Com (H), B.Sc (H), BBA (Hons.), B.Ed, at UG level & M.Com, and MA programs at PG level. In addition, there are also certain programs under the evening shift and self-financed scheme. The professors apart from being student friendly are very responsible towards us. From completing syllabus on time to explaining everything, giving notes and even taking class tests the professors never take a step back. They contribute all their time in preparing us for the best.

The professors are very helpful and student friendly. Most of them are passionate and amazing. They deliver the best of notes in the class. Prepares PPT for us overnight to present in the class through the projector and explains it all. No matter how many doubts you have, you can approach to them without any hesitation and they would repeat and explain it to you. They arrange for different training activities, guest lecturers and seminars for students for better understanding of the subject and a total exposure from a different perspective.

The placement although they say is 70% and multi-national companies like IBM, Cognizant comes for recruitment, in my 3 years of graduation (2015-18) I've a very bleak memory of witnessing anything as such. I even had friends from B.Com who did not get any placement either. Nor did anyone from Science got any job opportunities. As far as humanities is concerned of which I was a part of, I clearly remember the college having a placement cell where we had to sign up during the second year and which was applicable to all the streams of-course and not just to the students of arts, in 2016 Hospitality and management companies as well as airline companies like IndiGo had shown up and almost 30% of the students who went for the interview were placed accordingly. Later on in 2017-18, different companies had visited offering jobs at BPO levels with a salary of Rs. 10 thousand per month. I also remember hearing from seniors that the placement cell was always active if not the best and from their batches, students have been placed in companies like TCS and IBM that had visited our college before the years of my admission and the highest placement was somewhat around with an average package of Rs. 1.8-2 LPA.

Although from 2019 the scenario has changed a lot and due to the tie-ups with good companies like Deloitte, IBM, UBS, Infosys, Adidas, etc. maximum number of students got amazing placements with nice salary packages ranging from Rs. 6 -8 LPA at top roles such as finance manager, HR manager, marketing manager, etc. It is not mandatory for everyone to sit for the interviews, also the career-oriented programmes of the college will help you enhance your speaking and communication skills.

Unfortunately there is no particular hostel service provided by this college. Given the fact that many students are non-local, there are a lot of PGs nearby. The area around the college is quite posh, although the PGs around Bhawanipore or park circus area are quite good and affordable with graceful amenities. Even if the cost of pgs around these areas starts from Rs. 10k, the farther you can go the lesser can be the cost of your pg which is ample in number spread across the city.

Not to forget, the college is very close to the metro station, so where-ever you choose to stay you can always be on time if you take the metro services.

Now Shikshayatan is best known for its infrastructure. From its air conditioned rooms and cafeteria to well built bathrooms with purified aqua guards, the college has it all. Although some floors had stinky washrooms which I hope have improved by now. The college has round the clock security guards and 24x7 CCTV surveillance. It has amazing laboratories (as I heard from my friends) that are well equipped with modern instruments and devices along with trained lab assistants for monitoring and helping students to learn the practical. Next the library: it has modern facilities and resources in forms like CDs, DVDs, E-journals, etc. apart from the usual collection of books. The library is digitized and has a collection of research papers as well. You are also allowed to use the desktop for educational purpose inside the library. The IT department has Senior Technical Assistant and Computer Network Assistant who apart from taking care of the college website and other technical issues also ensure allotment of Wi-Fi passwords to individual students and faculty members.

The College is centrally air-conditioned with projectors and CCTV cameras available in individual classes. There is also an air-conditioned auditorium with a pedestal and a gallery like seating space where most of the college functions take place. And as I have already praised: the college cafeteria has the good food and is spacious and the sport ground and common room where the girls enjoy most of their daily physical co-curricular activities.

The campus life is very happening. The college has a different world of itself. It provides so many co-curricular activities to students that they can stay busy inside the campus all day apart from only doing classes. There is a gym and a TT table in the common room where girls also practice dance and other physical activities. There is a room for chess players and the college also gives rowing classes to the ones who are interested and enroll themselves. There is also a swimming pool inside where you can take swimming classes, many of my friends did and there is also a ground big enough where students played cricket, basket ball, volleyball or badminton. There was a basketball and volleyball court. Girls also practices drill there. Even though it's a common ground for both the college and school students, the time hardly crashed. As a result both could enjoy their break.

The fully air conditioned college has a great cafeteria where you can get delicious food and it is not that pricey even. The cafeteria remains full most of the time. Celebrations take place quite frequently starting from the annual fest: Srijan where students from other colleges are also allowed (both girls and boys) who are participants as well as spectators but obviously with a pass. A celebrity guest gets invited in the following fest and many events take place from singing and dancing to debates and fashion shows. There are stalls around and the one-day fest is quite the best of all programs in our college. Apart from this women's day, freshers, farewell, and many other such events take place. The whole years passes by with celebrations within few months. Hence, the students are not even bored. Those who want to be deeply involved and organize them, feel free to join the student council group.