Dr. R.D. Patidar, Vice Chancellor, OP Jindal University, Raigarh speaks about some of the initiatives taken by the university during the pandemic

There is a continuous need to upgrade the teaching pedagogy says Dr. R.D. Patidar, Vice Chancellor, OP Jindal University, Raigarh in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group.
What are the initiatives under your leadership which your university has taken during the pandemic?
OP Jindal University, Raigarh is basically sponsored by Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. Raigarh and the initiatives we have taken during this covid period is that immediately we shifted from offline teaching to online teaching. This was one of the new normal which is adopted across the country and during this covid period the entire sector in India as well as the world was impacted highly and education sector was also on the same plate but we came out stronger, superior and better during this pandemic because of our legacy and robust IT infrastructure and the extensive use of the digital platforms. I would like to tell to the education community that there is a need of more investment in the field of digital platforms, to create the digital infrastructure. There is a need to train the trainers, there is a need to train the faculty members and the faculty should be just like a co-learner. There is a need to completely revamp the assessment system the examination pattern, it should be a continuous evaluation system rather than the end term examination. The important thing is that there is a continuous need to upgrade the teaching pedagogy. The most important thing is that we should use the experiential learning, that is learning by doing and the case-based learning. How to bridge the gap between the industry and academia so that we can make the students industry ready, that should be the aim.
What message would you like to give to students specifically during these difficult times?
I would like to tell the students that they should not panic, this was not only in our country but the entire world is facing this problem. India has already come out from this problem and hopefully as our Prime Minster said, that we need to make this India as “Atmanirbhar Bharat” and one of the most important pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat is the technology driven ecosystem, we have to create and I think the students, the future leaders of this country can play very important role to make this country one of the self-reliant countries.