S.S. Jain Subodh Girls P.G. College, Jaipur, Head of Physics Departments: Dr. Richa Pareek Interview

Dr. Richa Pareek has been working as the Head of Physics Department at S.S. Jain Subodh Girls P.G. College, Jaipur, Rajasthan. She has done B. Sc., M. Sc., M. Phil and PhD as part of her academics and she has 10+ years of teaching experience. She has received an M. P. Young Scientist Award Winner in 2011 and M. P. Samvida Shiksha Shala Pariksha Passout in 2006. Apart from this, she has published 7 research papers in various reputed journals and has attended 7 conferences and symposiums. She is a proficient person and has knowledge of X-Ray Diffraction, DSC, Atomic Force Microscopy, Resistivity Measurement and Photoconductivity and UV-Visible spectroscopy along with programming languages like C, C++ and Origine.

What are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

"I am responsible to offer best quality education and amenities to students and make them a good person"

As a Teacher, it is my duty to educate and guide students and make sure they receive best quality industrial exposure and practical knowledge in our college. Also, helping students to learn stuff in an effective way and making them socially responsible, technically proficient and ethically strong also comes under the scope of my responsibilities. And sometimes we have to play the role of a mediator in a student's life as they anticipate their teacher to know everything and they think that the teachers are their resource house who’ll guide them through the darkness, so we are playing a crucial role in boosting their morale also. Apart from all this, I also need to upgarde my own knowledge as per changing technologies and tools so that I can deliver best to students. Sometimes, I take up the role of a creative thinker for evolving the best teaching ideas for my students.

How do you establish healthy relations with the students and fellow faculty?

"By being a good listener, their friend, philospher and support system"

In order to establish a healthy relationship with my students, I stay available to help them in their academic and non-academic issues and also guide them to achieve their goals, solve classroom management issues on time and lastly ensure to have a healthy classroom environment in place. And all this helps students to become acdemically strong and socially responsible. Sometimes, I even tell my own struggle stories to students so that they can learn the importance is perseverance and patience. And when it comes to faculty members, so we all work together as a team and every Teacher I know is either working on an initiative, engaged in committee work or piloting new lessons and assessments. So whenever required, I make sure my availability so that I can help them and also learn from them. Apart from this, I usually participate in their committees and never forget to appreciate and celebrate their achievements because it's my personal belief that when you support your colleagues and transparent and respectful communication happen, relationship will become strong and overall working environment would becoke amazing by default.

How do you introduce a practical and industry-oriented approach towards the subject?

"By educating students about the plethora of opportunities and scope this field offers"

Physics is the base of Engineering and Computer applications and without Physics there is no existence of any industry. Also, Physics from the very start has been a subject worth exploring and other fields like Optics, Mechanics, Electronics and thermodynamics etc. are more or less linked to it. Therefore, we educate our students about the relation of physics concepts and physical world phenomena so as to inculcate interest in them towards their subjects. Apart from this,our students first learn about theoretical concepts and then perform practicals in labs.

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How do you teach your students?

"By relating real time scenarios and case studies with theoretical concepts of subjects"

I start with the basics of subjects and then proceed with advanced concepts so that my students can understand subjects concepts in a better way and to make subjects content easy and relatable, I even use various kinds of real life examples. Because the theory of our subject is based on imaginations and live examples, relating facts with the actual world becomes an easy task for them. Last but not the least, I summarize the full chapter for revision and tabularize the whole data to memorize.

What opportunities will be available for students after pursuing UG courses from your college?

"Students can either go to pursue PG courses, work as a Teacher in School or College or can even be a Scientist"

In today's dynamic and technically evolving world, opportunities are available in every sector for competent and confident individuals. And our students after finishing their graduation courses from our college can go for higher education courses like M. Sc or M. Phil can even pursue PhD after qualifying competitive exams like NET and GATE etc. Apart from this, they can join reputed institutions and work as a School teacher, College Lecturer and can also become a Scientist. Last but not the least, students can join various technical departments and earn a decent salary. 

Which strategies do you use to prepare students to cope confidently with the outside competitive world?

"We do rigourous research, practice and revision of both theoretical and practical concepts"

In order to make our students ready for the cut-throat competitive world, we regularly guide and counsel students whenever they get stuck somewhere or feel confused. Also, we do rigorous practice with students about important topics and questions which are asked frequently in the exams. Both Theory as well as practical syllabus and their numerical problems are revised several times by the students as it sharpens their mind and they sit in exams with more confidence.

Which extracurricular activities are organized by your college to enhance the skills of students?

"Various kinds of competitions are organized and value based courses are offered to students"

Our college understands the fact that co-curricular activities are very important for students' overall development and growth because studying books alone will not lend them anywhere. Therefore, we organize a wide variety of events and activities including fashion and designing activities, digital marketing events, tally and graphic designing tasks along with sessions on beauty and makeup. Apart from this, we offer RS CIT certificate courses, E-spoken tutorial certificate courses which are conducted in collaboration with IIT Powai and skill development certificate courses.

Which challenges are you facing in uplifting the education quality of your department?

"Shifting students focus towards their studies and establishing a good coordination between teachers is a real challenge"

There are many challenges which we are facing currently in uplifting the education quality of our department. And the very first one is of subjects itself as our subjects are both that easy, so inculcating a feeling of interest and curiosity in students so that they can study properly is a real challenge. In addition to this, establishing coordination between department faculties and time-to-time maintenance of lab instruments also poses a roadblock for us. Last but not the least, developing a curriculum and practical syllabus which is compliant with ever changing industrial demands and educational standards also creates a hurdle for us. 

What approaches do you bring in apart from curriculum to teach students?

"We organize education tours, workshops and hands-on training sessions for students"

For the purpose of teaching students beyond the hard-coded curriculum, our college regularly organizes department wise educational tours for students so that they understand subjects concepts in a better way. In addition to this, hands-on training and workshops, sciencepedia and competitions in different fields like working model, still model, chart presentation and PPT presentation are organized by us from time to time. All this also helps students to improve their communication skills and relationship with their peers. 

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Any valuable advice which you would like to share with the young minds of our society?

"Don't rely only on what is taught to you in classrooms, keep exploring and keep upgrading your skills"

I would like to suggest to my dear students and youths of our society to not practice spoon feeding in studies, means don't just read what teachers teach you and try to explore things on your own. Because spoon feeding in studies will only give you marks but will degrade your thinking qualities and capabilities. Hence focus on gathering practical knowledge, define practically possible and achievable goals for yourself, never be afraid from doing hard work and lastly keep dreaming and keep living.