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The rise of India on the global stage is no longer a question but a reality. The sleeping giant has awakened. If IT was the engine of growth at the dawn of the millennium, let Economics and Finance be in the coming years! Friends, we can create global leaders in Economics only if our young minds are motivated to think the economist way ! To start off they must be urged to broaden their horizons and think beyond the classroom ! And Arth-Manthan is a step towards this… Nowadays it has become quite fashionable for educationalists and administrators of educational institutions to say, “Things are very bad…the education system is outdated.” If things are so bad, can’t the educators do something about it for the future generations? There is no doubt that our curriculum is heavy in content but lacks application. We follow a one-way process that is “Teacher-Centric” i.e. classroom based learning as a primary vehicle for imparting knowledge. Today, colleges have become mere factories churning out degree holders. Analytical knowledge and acquisition of skills have received little attention of the education system. Rote Learning has been emphasised whereas application of theory has been sidelined. Graduates coming out of most of the Indian Universities have received learning, which has got hardly any relevance to the needs of the industry. For example many of the commerce students don’t even know how a commercial bank functions. However, the students cannot be blamed for this situation. The prevalent education system has forced them to study only for the examinations. After the examinations are over if you ask even a topper, what he learned during the year and his reply would be, “Don’t ask me…it’s all over”. As a remedy to this, the students and teachers of the College have come up with a new way of learning. The College organises a unique academic festival, “Arth-Manthan”, which puts to test the practical aspects of classroom learning. As the name suggests the festival revolves around Economics and Business. Economics is not only one of the most practical subjects, but is also the basis for most of our day-to-day decision-making. Arth-Manthan has succeeded in bringing the subject to life ! With just 12 colleges from Mumbai participating in 2001, the year in which Arth-Manthan was inaugurated, the festival has grown to become the largest festival of its kind in India. It attracted the attention of the students all over India, so much so that last year 60 colleges participated in various events.
The
festival was lauded by various industry associations in Mumbai. Our ultimate
mission is to have similar festivals in colleges across India! Already many
colleges in Mumbai have been inspired by Arth-Manthan and they have started
economics festivals. |