Government General Degree College, Chapra

Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Challenges(SWOC)

Institutional Strength:

1. A multi-cultural, multi-lingual, and multi-religious ambience conducive to first and second-generation learners.
2. Highly qualified and dedicated faculty members endeavor to maintain the academic standards of the college. A good number of teachers hold doctoral degrees.
3. Successfully implemented the ‘student-centric’ CBCS curriculum in all its Honours and General courses from 2017.
4. Successfully implemented the ‘student-centric’ NEP curriculum in all its courses since 2023.
5. The college successfully manages channeling of the applications of the students for various scholarships provided by the state and central governments and other agencies through a dedicated Scholarship Section.
6. The augmentation of e-resources and audio-visual teaching method immensely helped the students during the pandemic and beyond it.
7. The College Central Library has access to some international databases and journals.
8. An active IQAC ensures quality control, academic expansion, partnerships, and productive strategies for overall institutional development and growth.
9. High enrollment of girl students from marginalized backgrounds upholds equal opportunities in education.
10. The Grievance Redressal Cell, Anti-Ragging Cell, Internal Complaints Committee, Disciplinary Action Committee, and Career Counseling Cell protect and promote students’ safety, dignity, and future prospects.
11. College First Aid Unit and Psychological Counseling Cell ensure the physical and mental well-being of all stakeholders. The College has spatial proximity to a Government Hospital.
12. A good number of faculty members pursue Extramural Research published in reputed UGC-CARE listed journals and other globally acclaimed journals and cited widely.
13. The NSS unit of the college performs various awareness programmes and community outreach activities throughout the year.
14. Public welfare activities like the Students’ Welfare Fund, Dengue Awareness Programme, and Thalassemia screening and free Covid vaccination drives help promote the welfare and safety of the students.
15. Pollution-free campus with a sufficient number of fruit and medicinal plants, and garden. Rich biodiversity of the college campus as well as surrounding areas.
16. The college has a dedicated bio-diversity conservation lab.
17. The campus friendly and accessible to differently-abled (Divyangjan) persons, having a well-lit, ramp-enabled entrance and special toilets for convenience.
18. The college has a large playground and various sports items and equipment’s to facilitate sports activities among the students.
19. The HEI is secured with security guards and the installation of a Close Circuit TV.
20. The college canteen caters to students and faculty alike.

Institutional Weakness:

1. As a comparatively newly setup Government College, the institution lacks the necessary infrastructure which is easily available at established old colleges.
2. Poor communication service to the college which is located at a remote rural place is the biggest obstacle of the institute. It hinders students to consider our college as an option for pursuing higher education. It causes low attendance of the students as it is difficult as well as expensive to commute to college on daily basis.
3. The shortage of adequate classrooms in the college building hinders the allotment of requisite classes in accordance with the CBCS curriculum.
4. Lack of laboratory space and equipment act as deterrents to research conducted by faculty.
5. Insufficient Government funds and their irregular disbursal system pose problems for the college to plan and execute projects.
6. Meager recurring allotted funds restrict resources for running the establishment, providing AMC of instruments, hiring casual staff, etc.
7. As a fully Government Institute, the college depends entirely on P.W.D for construction and renovation related civil and electrical works, making quality assurance, maintenance, and monitoring difficult. A low administrative staff to Student/Faculty ratio poses a challenge to the college administration.
8. Non-recruitment of Group-D staff has deprived the Departments of their non-teaching laboratory assistants and adversely affected the office as well.
9. No funding or permission is available for starting vocational courses which promote placement opportunities for students.
10. Students are mostly first-generation learners from rural areas who suffer from a lack of socio-academic exposure. However, some have overcome all odds and aced tough competitive exams.
11. The college has been unable to conduct various capacity-building and skill enhancement classes like UGC Career Oriented Add-on Courses.
12. The College does not have any language laboratories.
13. Due to the paucity of funds, there is minimum provision for organizing seminars. We have to depend on conducting webinars instead.
14. Being a government institution, the College cannot sponsor faculty to either avail memberships of academic bodies or attend seminars/workshops. However, the College authority allows On Duty Leaves to the faculty for such endeavors. Moreover, teachers with extramural research are supported by grants from sponsors. Some faculty members are executive members/research associates of national associations.
15. The college central library lacks internet facility. Catalogue system of books is not available. The college has invited tenders for the same.
16. The institute is not member of The Inflibnet N-list consortium.
17. Google enterprise subscription for educational institute is not available in library.
18. The college is not associated with the National Knowledge Network. The college has no access to Information highway connectivity due to lack of BSNL or MTNL service.
19. The college has no departmental libraries.

Opportunities:

1. Government General Degree College, Chapra is located in a rural setting surrounded by farm lands and abundant natural vegetation. Therefore, the institute is rich a source of biodiversity, and offers great scope for botanical research.
2. Diverse kinds of farm lands surrounding the college building offer several opportunities for agricultural research.
3. Birds of diverse species gather inside the college premise, which can be considered a crucial area for Ornithological study.
4. The surrounding area of the college building is inhabited by various kinds of snakes usually found in rural Bengal of plain area. Therefore, it offers a considerable scope for Herpetology.
5. Large playground inside the college campus and available sports facilities offer a good opportunity to the students for the preparation in jobs in defense sector.
6. The students are taught by well-qualified faculty members who are capable of managing grants and funds from government and non-government organizations. Therefore, the scholars can apply for working in a minor or major research project supervised by faculty members of the college.
7. The college has taken the initiative for arranging alternative classes for the preparation of government jobs. It caters to the needs of the students from marginalized and underprivileged backgrounds who opt competitive examinations for their career building.
8. The institute regularly organizes seminars and workshops on diverse topics of scientific and social interest.
9. The college frequently organizes orientation classes and engages in career counselling for they lack exposure to available academic opportunities.
10. The college regularly organizes extension programmes like AIDS awareness programme, Water Conservation Programme, Thalassemia detection programme, road safety programme, gender sensitization programme in order to make them socially responsible and politically informed citizens.

Challenges:

1. The students of this college are mostly first-generation learners and they hail from socially and economically underprivileged sections of society. Therefore, it is a major challenge to orient them towards higher education.
2. The institute is located in a remote rural area and lacks proper communication and transportation system. It discourages students from taking admission in the college.
3. The institute often runs out of funds. It creates great difficulty in building proper infrastructure of the college.
4. The college lacks the proper infrastructure for ICT-based education. Lack of the internet facility is a great hindrance for the college.
5. The college suffers from student absenteeism due to the trouble of communication. Students often drop out as they migrate to find jobs to other states and countries and opt for early marriage. This is a major challenge for the college to address.
6. As a government college the institute often faces administrative delay in completing a work which requires administrative approval.
7. As an affiliated college the institute has no authority in creating teaching posts. Therefore, a number of departments often suffer from acute shortage of faculties.
8. The college has limited scope for introducing innovative and specialized courses due to lack of funds and shortage of faculty members.
9. The college has no canteen facilities for the students.
10. The college has no electricity backups like generators or solar power.