Pvt colleges use students as their marketing agents
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Coimbatore:02.03.2019
Around noon on Friday, the first day of the Class XII state board exams, groups of first year and second year college students were seen waiting in front of a school at R S Puram in the city with bunches of pamphlets and notices in their hands.
A college bus had dropped some of them at the spot a few minutes ago. The students, in some cases accompanied by an employee of the college, were waiting to distribute their college admission pamphlets to Class XII students who would come out after writing the exam.
Some of them told TOI that they were second year students while some said they were first year students. When they were waiting, a college employee was seen asking the students to remove their identity cards and collecting them.
Once the students started coming out after the exam, the college students who were restlessly waiting till then, sprang into action and started distributing the pamphlets. They were also seen collecting the names and phone numbers of the Class XII students.
A few other colleges had, however, deployed their employees at the same spot to distribute pamphlets.
When contacted, a representative of the Pioneer College of Arts and Science, students of which were seen distributing pamphlets, said those students had volunteered to do so. “These students act as volunteers in all our college activities. In the process of admission also they help us,” the representative said. The representative also said it was an ‘extension activity’ like an NSS camp where they go door to door to spread messages.
TOI contacted St Paul’s College of Arts and Science for Women, students from which were also seen distributing pamphlets, and asked to speak to the principal. While a staff member from the college said the principal would call back, there were no calls from the college.
When TOI spoke to an official from the regional directorate of collegiate education regarding the issue, the official said it was unwarranted of colleges to make students do such work. The official, however, said that the issue had not been brought to their notice till then and that they would investigate it.
OUT OF SYLLABUS: College students distribute pamphlets to school students
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Coimbatore:02.03.2019
Around noon on Friday, the first day of the Class XII state board exams, groups of first year and second year college students were seen waiting in front of a school at R S Puram in the city with bunches of pamphlets and notices in their hands.
A college bus had dropped some of them at the spot a few minutes ago. The students, in some cases accompanied by an employee of the college, were waiting to distribute their college admission pamphlets to Class XII students who would come out after writing the exam.
Some of them told TOI that they were second year students while some said they were first year students. When they were waiting, a college employee was seen asking the students to remove their identity cards and collecting them.
Once the students started coming out after the exam, the college students who were restlessly waiting till then, sprang into action and started distributing the pamphlets. They were also seen collecting the names and phone numbers of the Class XII students.
A few other colleges had, however, deployed their employees at the same spot to distribute pamphlets.
When contacted, a representative of the Pioneer College of Arts and Science, students of which were seen distributing pamphlets, said those students had volunteered to do so. “These students act as volunteers in all our college activities. In the process of admission also they help us,” the representative said. The representative also said it was an ‘extension activity’ like an NSS camp where they go door to door to spread messages.
TOI contacted St Paul’s College of Arts and Science for Women, students from which were also seen distributing pamphlets, and asked to speak to the principal. While a staff member from the college said the principal would call back, there were no calls from the college.
When TOI spoke to an official from the regional directorate of collegiate education regarding the issue, the official said it was unwarranted of colleges to make students do such work. The official, however, said that the issue had not been brought to their notice till then and that they would investigate it.
OUT OF SYLLABUS: College students distribute pamphlets to school students