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THE BHOPAL SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES (AUTONOMOUS)
Accredited with A+ Grade by NAAC in 4th Cycle
Affiliated to Barkatullah University, Bhopal
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Vision-To build future citizens by helping learners develop their capacities to the fullest, empowering them through education and instilling in them a humanitarian approach to issues and challenges of life so that in their lives as citizens of the world and members of local community, they contribute towards building a better world and a better tomorrow.
Mission-
The Department of English comprises five faculty members and one language lab trainer All faculty members hold doctoral degrees. In addition to teaching English Literature at the Under Graduate and Post Graduate levels, over the years, the Department has also diversified in areas relating to English Language, Business Communication, as well as the promotion and growth of soft skills. Inherently having a very progressive outlook, the Department takes major initiatives for promoting the use of English amongst the students of all faculties through several means. A USP of the Department is the use of latest methodologies for the teaching of literature such as ppts, live streaming through websites such as YouTube, and extensive use of web resources and audio - visual teaching aids.
Through this compulsory paper, the Department undertakes teaching of English Language to approximately 3500 students of the institution, ranging from Humanities, Commerce, Science, Management and Computer Applications thus establishing a pan-college presence. The aim is to create interest amongst the learners to adapt to an English environment with ease and fluency.
B. English Literature:
With extensive syllabi comprising all possible discourses and representation of all literary cultures and theoretical paradigms of the world, the Department of English shapes scholars, critical thinkers, creative writers, free-lancers through a framework of inclusive criticality and pedagogical autonomy. The syllabi are disseminated through participatory learning, collaborative teaching, project-based learning, internship-outreach activities and others. Students are further taught to assimilate life skills such as understanding of language and culture, a critical perspective, the power of language, clarity and coherence in expression and effective presentation.
These programmes cover a wide range of topics from literature viz. – Background and study of English Literature, American Literature, Indian Writings in English, Literature of the Diaspora, English Language and Literary Criticism. The subject also provides the students, knowledge of World literature, Classics, and New Age Literature.
C. Business Communication:
The Department is actively engaged in training BCA, BBA, B Com Honours students for the Business Communication Course, covering areas such as Business Correspondence, LSRW skills, soft skills and Getting Ready for the Job Market.
2. Co-Academic Activities
A. Certificate Courses - Keeping in tune with the philosophy of education beyond curriculum, the Department of English conducts three certificate programmes covering the domains of language building and communication. These are-
This initiative is intended to increase the exposure of the students and to prepare them for the job market by giving a professional touch to their academic programmes.
B. Language Lab- A major initiative of the College and the Department of English has been the setting up of a Language Lab in the year 2010-11 installed with the ORELL software from Bangalore. The lab is equipped with special furniture for 24 work stations and 1 trainer station and LAN connectivity. Dell computers with original and licensed software have been used to equip the lab. The teachers have been specially trained to run the software and programme packages. Students from all faculties are encouraged to make extensive use of the lab to improve their grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and fluency as well as their communication skills. This is a valuable investment and we hope to bring about significant improvement in language proficiency of our students with this facility.
C. Internships: The faculty is actively engaged in preparing UG and PG final year students for various internship programmes. As part of these internships, the students are expected to carry out short-term internships with schools, colleges, print and electronic media. Students of the department mostly intern as content writers, teachers, trainee lecturers, radio jockeys etc.
A. Literary Quiz
The Department of English organizes an audio-visual literary quiz on a regular basis for all the literature students of UG and PG English. This quiz is essentially meant to assess and evaluate the level of literary knowledge of the students and to orient them to the latest literary developments. The quiz mainly focuses on a range of topics from Literature such as -
The quiz has always been an immense success in terms of student participation and response.
B. The College Magazine QUEST
Another creative venture of the Department in the recent years has been the publication of the College magazine Quest. The Annual College magazine Quest is an expression of the creative potential of the students of BSSS. Dr. Mrs. Jagtar Kaur Chawla, ex HoD had been the staff editor of Quest for almost 36 years. A distinctive feature of the college magazine is the fact that it has been published uninterrupted every year since the inception of the college in 1972. This is a literary venture that provides the students with a platform to share and enrich their experiences.
C. Literary NewsletterMILESTONES
Milestones is a significant part of the literary ventures undertaken by the Department since 2013. It is published annually and can be regarded as a forum that gives wings to our students’ imagination. It is a journey of exploration which channelizes as well as showcases the creative energies of the young learners in the Department.
D. IGNIS- the BSSS Literary Society -The faculty of the Department plays a pivotal role in conducting and organizing numerous literary activities for the students. This is done under the flagship of the literary society under the aegis of the Department of English. The society organizes a range of literary activities and events for the students such as debates, extempore, creative writing, elocution, IGNIS - Slam Poetry, Poetic Hues, Open Letters, JAM etc. In the session 2021-22, IGNIS organized a variety of events and competitions on a regular basis for all literature lovers and used its knowledge and expertise in presenting both online and offline events for everyone.
The session started with introducing a series of weekly recommendations for books, movies, shows and much more on our instagram page, with a dash of literature memes, poetry recitals and other informative, yet entertaining posts for all our keen followers.
This online event organized on 11th September 2021 saw participation from all round the country. It was a golden opportunity for literature enthusiasts to create and deliver alternative endings to their favourite stories and raise the doubts about our beloved fairy tales by putting forth important moral questions and giving it their own end.
Through this online event on 23rd October 2021, participants got a chance to speak for and against the topic of discussion, which was- “Is the press actually free in India” Here the participants got a chance to unearth the idea of freedom of expression on the stage in their own way.
This virtually conducted event was organized on 13th November 2021, especially to address the freshers and welcome them in the institution. The students were given an open invitation to come forth on the stage and tell a story, recite poetry, sing a song and simply showcase their best versions.
On Friday 14th January 2022 an online English Poetry Workshop was conducted by Mr. Amartya Agrawal where various avenues such as the meaning of poetry and characteristics of a poet were explored. While also discussing an amateur poet’s mistakes and tips on analysing and overcoming writer’s block.
This was a two-day event that was organized to celebrate the Modern Literary Era. The event had a plethora of activities viz Preservation Parley - a debate competition, screening of the movie “Little Women”, a film adaptation of a modern masterpiece of the same name, featuring an Excerpt from Superbia- a musical theater performance and the Literary Lawsuit - a humorous skit, Eloquentia - the poetry recitation, Flamboyance - the costume competition, and the obstacle course - Tides of Time.
A nine week long weekly poetry and illustrations challenge was held on the official instagram page of IGNIS where new prompts were posted every single week for participants to present their art of poetry and illustrations and express themselves freely. Best entrants of every single week were acknowledged on the page and the best entries of the entire challenge would be published in IGNIS Vol. 4, the annual poetry anthology curated by IGNIS.
E. Annual Literary/Drama Fest-Held every year, the Annual Literary Fest is solely organized by the undergraduate and postgraduate students of the Department. This event contains vignettes of breath-taking performances taken from myriad literary genres such as drama, poetry reading and storytelling. This fest marks the emergence of many students as amateur dramatists, actors, script-writers, editors and composers, thus mirroring their immense talent.
Other Key Features
A. Modern Teaching methods/ ICT used by the Faculty
The teachers are encouraged to use latest teaching methodologies in the teaching of Literature and Language such as Wi-Fi, YouTube, web resources, and ppts. The Dept. has its own set of computers, printer, a scanner and 2 tape-recorders. We also have an excellent collection of DVDs based on popular fiction, classics, and several plays of William Shakespeare. The teachers make frequent use of the audio-visual methods as this leads to greater participation and more interactive teaching.
B. Research Centre – the Department is a recognised Research Centre for English under affiliating Barkatullah University, Bhopal. Presently, the centre has two PhD supervisors and 3 registered scholars pursuing PhD.
C. Alumni – the Department has many meritorious and illustrious Alumni to its credit who have cleared NET, SLET and have secured government jobs. The Department also takes pride in announcing that many of its students have progressed to prestigious institutions for higher studies in India and abroad. The alumni actively involve in the college activities strengthening the bond with its Alma Mater.
D. MOU’s and Linkages – The Department constantly endeavours to strengthen the linkages with the outside corporate world and other educational institutions in the form of signing of MoUs and conducting frequent collaborative activities.
The Department presently has following MoUs:
E. Departmental Library and Book Bank- the Department has a rich collection of reference books and also has a book bank to help the slow learners.
F. Skill Enhancement Activities – The Department constantly seeks to focus on skill enhancement for both teachers and students alike. LSRW activities, Student Research Projects, Guest lectures etc are encouraged for the students. Teachers keep harnessing their teaching skills through various FDPs.
The Department strives to meet the local/national/global needs like communication skills, informational technology, Strategic Studies, English Language Teaching, Innovation to incubate the professional, creative, inventorial, humanistic and all other aspirations of personal growth among the students. Its academic achievement lies in nurturing the creativity and scholarly abilities of its students thus preparing them to study further and find new and fruitful prospects.
Activities Organized Last Academic Year