On Thursday, SIES College of Arts Science and Commerce, Sion West felicitated a total of 14 toppers of SWAYAM NPTEL run 2020 and 2021. The fourteen achievers of the Ministry of Education facilitated learning programme were awarded by the Chief Guest Dr. Sunder Rajdeep, who heads the Department of Communication and Journalism at the University of Mumbai, Kalina campus.
The felicitation programme was aimed to boost the morale and encourage enthusiastic learners who not only registered for course but also aced it amidst the pandemic. The event was graced by the presence of Chief Guest Dr. Sunder Rajdeep, SIES College Principal Dr. Uma Maheshwari Shankar, one of the Vice Principal Dr. Tara Menon, Centre for Excellence (COE) coordinator and Single Point Of Contact (SPOC) Ms. Mahalaxmi Nadar, awardees, staff members, student volunteers and well wishers.
The event began around 11.30 AM by invoking blessings of Goddess Saraswati, who is almighty for knowledge and learning. The event marked the Centre for Excellence's first offline session since the pandemic broke out in early 2019, and was carried out in adherence to COVID-19 protocols. All people present in the gathering were double vaccinated, and the hour saw a limited number of people making offline presence. Considering this, the organizing team had broadcasted the session LIVE on their YouTube channel, for a larger audience.
Watch the video, right here:
Chief Guest Dr. Sunder Rajdeep addressed the gathering with inspirational quotes and anecdotes. "Learning is similar to a train with many coaches, however the engine that leads to success is self confidence. Students are the best representatives of an educational institutions, and their shine and glory is that of the institute. Thus, I whole heartedly congratulate and appreciate the hardwork and efforts of the achievers, "said Dr. Sunder.
"We want our students to not just pass with a degree certification or mere classroom knowledge, being skill oriented is the key and these courses taken up by our students makes us proud - it is our pleasure to see that they emerge potential, skill oriented, employable and self-reliant, said Principal Dr. Uma Shankar during her address in the felicitation programme.
The toppers included 12 students, with one having secured two recognitions (Akshath Namboodiri), and one faculty member (Dr. Richa Singh). The names of the other awardees are as follows: Manav Shankar, Syed Fatima, Shaikh Aisha, Arpita Singh, Bhushan Sanjay Bangar, Sneha Narayanan, Bushra Khan, Karthika Menon, N Priyamvada, Nachiketa Thaker and Akhil Menon.
"I am extremely delighted to be one of the toppers being honored today. My parents were very happy and excited when I informed them about my achievement. I dedicated about two hours of study each day, and referred the study materials provided by the learning platform. The course has been a great piece of learning. Gratitude to the my department head, the college and all well wishers, without whose support witnessing this day would have been an incomplete dream," said Akshath Namboodiri, who is a media student securing two awards at the felicitation event.
The occasion was also marked to acknowledge the students who successfully completed courses hosted by SIES Centre for Excellence department, namely Diploma in German language, International certification in Spanish and Computer Programming. Also, some teachers climbed the stage in praise for having completed Faculty Development Programme (FDP) via the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) platform.
To the unversed, SWAYAM is a program that is initiated by the Government of India. SWAYAM (meaning 'Self') is a Sanskrit acronym that stands for "Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds". NPTEL is a project of MHRD initiated by 7 IITs along with the IISc, Bangalore in 2003, to provide quality education to anyone interested in learning from the IITs.
