Mary Matha Arts & Science College

Best Practices

Project on Empowerment through News Reading : PEN-R

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PEN- R (Project on Empowerment through News Reading) is one of the Best Practices of Mary Matha Arts and Science College. The project was introduced in the College due to the following reasons:
The majority of the students of the College hail from rural background and are first generation learners who require additional help to develop their English language skills. Even though many students excel in their core subjects, many students find it difficult to articulate their ideas in English.
An analysis of the performance of students in programmes that require general knowledge and social awareness helped us realise that only a few students are confident to participate in competitions that demanded such expertise. Realising this, the college expanded the scope of PEN- R from just language development to include developing general knowledge and social awareness.
Being an institution located in the only aspirational district in Kerala, we realise the importance of instilling social commitment in our students. Training our students to be active participants in social transformation through proper interventions is an important aspect of PEN-R.

Objectives

  1. To enhance English language proficiency of the students
  2. To enhance social awareness and general knowledge of the students
  3. To promote social intervention through news reading.

The practice

Every class has a student representative responsible for collecting the newspaper from the office and distributing it in their respective classrooms. Students are assigned different activities based on news reading. Many activities are organised by the departments based on news reading to improve the language, general awareness and subject knowledge of the students. For example the Computer Science department emphasizes the importance of reading technology-related news and first-year students in particular receive assignments based on these topics. Each day, a designated student is tasked with finding and writing down tech-related news to display on the department's notice board. The Department of English conducts activities aimed at language development and creating awareness about different social issues. To improve language and communication skills, the students are asked to read newspapers and write unfamiliar words in a notebook. The activity requires them to find the meanings of the words, learn them and use them in sentences. The students are made to present the same in the class. During the presentations, discussions about the leading news of the week are conducted. Students voice their opinions about various social issues

As part of the PEN R initiative, students are given the opportunity to present news through the public announcement system. Each student is given individual training by the teachers of the English department. Focus is given on language, vocabulary and presentation skills. Volunteers from all departments participate in the programme. Students who perform well and show improvement in their language skills are given opportunities to participate in other activities like being masters of ceremony at various events, internships at media firms etc.
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As part of the PEN-R initiative, the daily news from seven newspapers viz Mathrubhumi,Malayala Manorama, Deepika, Madhyamam Mangalam, The Hindu and The Indian Express is compiled in the library and circulated in the students’ WhatsApp groups.

Television news is displayed in the common areas of the College and in the library so that students are kept abreast of the events happening in the world.
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Various activities like elocution competitions, debates, essay writing competitions, quiz competitions etc. are organised at the department level to develop the language/ communication skills and to improve general knowledge of the students.

The extension activities of the college are connected to news reading and a discussion is organised before the students actually perform the extension activity. The students discuss the specific problems mentioned in the news and analyse how their contribution can create a positive change in the society.