Community college emerging ace with social works course

Whenever one talks about community college in Nepal, people imagine it as a neglected educational destination. There is a general impression that private colleges surpass community college. But, there are some community colleges performing well from competitive entrance exams to multiple subject choices and remarkable success in the result.

The Janata Multiple Campus (JMC), a community college in Itahari Sub-Metropolitan City, stands untrue to general impression for its performance in academic programmes from Plus Two to Master's Level.

Newly introduced course, Bachelor of Arts in Social Work (BASW) has added a new dimension to JMC of late. For the first batch of 2074 BS, 226 students had applied for the entrance exams of BASW, but only 110 students were selected to join the class.

In the second batch, the students' number was intentionally reduced to 71. Likewise, in the third batch of 2076 BS, the students count 60. Now, for the incoming fifth batch of 2077 BS, the campus is afoot to limit student number at 55, says Head of The Department (HOD), Arjun Uprety, arguing it is for maintaining quality education and smooth management of new programme.

''TU does not have fixed the number for BASW course. However, from the very first batch, we came to realize that we cannot run classes with more than 50 students in a year because it is purely a field-based and practical course'', said HOD Uprety. He added they were forced from many quarters not to downsize student volume.

BASW earning good repute to JMC

Established on 31 Ashad 2045 BS, Janata Multiple Campus (JMC) is a community college initially focused in Sunsari district. But, the BASW course has attracted students from various other districts in Province-1.

Roshan Adhikari from Madi Municipality-6 of Sankhuwasabha district and Tara Rai from Khotang's Bahrapokhari Rural Municipality-3 have joined JMC to study BASW. Similarly, Ranjana Bhattarai of Siddicharan Municipality-2, Okhaldhunga is also a BASW student at JMC. Students like Adhikari, Rai and Bhattarai have come to Itahari to study BASW because there were no other colleges in the province to provide BASW course.

''Janata Multiple Campus is the third campus to run BASW in Province-1'', said HOD Uprety, ''Among community colleges, JMC is the first one to run this course.''

According to him, JMC is now famous in 25 districts. "In addition to 14 districts of Province 1, we have students from the districts belonging to other provinces'', informed HOD Uprety.

JMC has an annual fee of around Rs. 30,000- far less than its private-run colleges. This also the reason why many are attracted to JMC, said a member of the Campus Management Committee, Pramod Bhattarai. Qualified human resources, adequate infrastructures and full-fledged curriculum-based studies are plus points that help earn good repute to JMC in relation to BASW.

Girls outnumber boys, BASW's scope wider

The BASW at JMC has attracted more girls than boys. In the first batch of 110 students, 42 were boys and 68 girls while the second batch had 58 girls and13 boys, and 49 girls and 11 boys in the third batch.

BASW is a cross-cutting and dynamic subject in the social science stream limiting theory in 60 per cent and practical in 40 percent. Moreover, in the latest 4-yearly programme, the volume of theory and practical is 70 and 30 per cent respectively, said Uprety. BASW contains academic writing, report writing, research works and field works very from the beginning which is not in other streams. This makes this subject unique, thereby creating a strong base to prepare skilled human resource for development and social works, he argued.

Moreover, field-based closed camps, rural camps and urban camps are other salient features of this subject. The colleges run four-day closed camp, four-day urban camp and five-day urban camp which not only opens up student's knowledge but also familiarise them with diverse settings, society and people.

Those who worked earlier as social mobilisers at local levels are also BASW students.

Uprety further claims various social and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), police, paramilitary and military service prefer BASW graduates. Rapport-building with people, community interaction and conflict management skills the BASW graduates develop during study further help them in career building in multiple sectors, it is learnt.