“Pray for knowledge and light, every other prayer is selfish”

- Swami Vivekananda.

               Character building is the task of a life-time and it rewards the spiritual materials like faith, coverage, nobility, self-giving etc. Prayer has the power to strengthen the will and sharpen the intellect of students. Every day Prayer begins by chanting Gayathri Mantra, singing devotional songs, meditation and singing the college anthem to infuse spiritual quotient.

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2. Objectives of the Practice

               The main objective of having prayer as our best practice is to rightly direct the students in the practice of devotion and become God-loving. The daily prayer motivates the students and faculty members to learn the greatest virtues like punctuality, accountability and spirituality. The principled way of praying helps everyone to expand love, for love is God.

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3. The Context

               The praying system was initiated by our founders in the year 1961 and we still follow it with more hope and pride. The plan and purpose of higher education is to provide the means for the mind to emerge from ignorance to enlightenment. Thus the students are imbued with godly thoughts daily before starting their regular process of learning which would help them to emerge as reformed characters. All the students and faculty members assemble in the Sister Nivedita auditorium by 9.15 a.m. to attend the daily prayer. Our College choir plays a lead role and all students sing devotional songs, chant mantras and meditate, for prayer paves way for the development of divine thoughts. Students irrespective of the background and environment are sumptuously supplied with thoughts and feelings of God during prayer. As soon as they enter the auditorium, they maintain silence, for the practice of perfect silence is inculcated and taught to maintain a prayerful attitude throughout the prayer session. The students are monitored only by the office bearers and no strict rule is followed, thus it constitutes the best source of success.

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4. The Practice

               The prayer begins at 9.30 a.m., the choir girls sing a devotional song, followed by namavali and then by Gayathri manthra- it is chanted thrice and followed by meditation, then by a thought for the day in English and Tamil and a devotional song followed by our college anthem. On Mondays we begin the prayer with Tamilthaai Valthu and on Fridays the national anthem is sung to bring unity and national integrity. Thus we start our academic pursuits daily after praying, for it is a question of switching on the human to the divine. Our prayer is unique in context of higher education for the more one prays, the more elevated one becomes. The prayer stretches towards a session on general knowledge on all days and Ramayana / Mahabharata discourses once in a month. The Ramayana and Mahabharatha discourse in alternate years not only narrates the story but it also encompasses the intrinsic and hidden values that are to be caught by the students. On the day of special celebration, Swamijis and learned people from Sri Ramakrishna Mutt used to address our students on the epics. A Sarvodaya prayer is observed to pay homage to all freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for the nation, on January 30 th of every year. Songs from all religions are sung.

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5. Evidence of Success

               Even now in this fast moving technological era the collective prayer is giving importance in our institution, to help everyone fight the life’s battle in a challenging way. The success of this process of prayer is reflected in the formal and informal meetings with the alumni that it has strengthened their will and sharpened their intellect.

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6. Problems Encountered and Resources Required

               It is really a challenge to make the students nearly 2500 to assemble daily by 9.15 am for the prayer. They are trained in such a way to move to the auditorium as soon as the bell rings at 9.10 a.m. though the students are from diverse environment and family background are copious with good thoughts and feelings of God during prayer. The present independent positions held by the alumni stamp an indelible mark on the conduct of prayer in the institution that is still in practice. The response and support extended by the teachers and the students is overwhelming.

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               Our institution is very positive in backing the downtrodden by giving them good education. The college is distinct with the ideals of national and cultural heritage has chosen a multi pronged strategy of emboldening full-fledged woman not only in curricular but also in extracurricular and co-curricular activities.

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2. Objectives of the Practice

• To give an education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased and the intellect is expanded.
• To empower the girl students from poor background
• To motivate the first generation learners to pursue PG and research degrees
• To mitigate dropout rate
• To motivate the students to take up community based projects to realize student social responsibility
• To extend financial and academic support and encouragement at all levels to achieve success
• To transform low scorers and low achievers to learners of excellence.

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3. The Context

In order to help the students to pursue their studies, various support and encouragement are extended by the institution. They are as follows:

• Minimum Fee Structure: In order to remove the difference in our students’ economic conditions and to do away with the attitude of seeking to get everything free, students of all economic standards are liberally educated with a nominal admission and exam fee strictly following the Government norms.
• Scholarships: The institution takes various steps to motivate the students to apply for all types of scholarship [Government, State, Social Welfare, Adidravidar Tribal Welfare NGOs]. The institution also helps the research scholars to apply and get fellowship from different organizations and funding agencies. In addition they see to that the poor and deserving students get scholarship under various schemes. They also take initiatives to check whether the needy and meritorious students get financial assistance to pursue their studies without any financial constraints through Endowment schemes.
• Free Lunch Scheme: The Management is magnanimous in providing free lunch for the less fortunate students who seek learning and education. Through this small gesture, human sympathy and charitable impulse is cultivated amongst the students. This act would definitely instill the traditional habit of hospitality of our country and an embodiment of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi in all our students.
• The management also provides sarees for the lower strata during Deepavali with a motive to make them celebrate festival with vigour.
• Bhagawan Mahaveer Book Bank: With the intention of helping the students who cannot afford to buy text books, Bhagawan Mahaveer Book bank comes to their rescue
• Earn While you Learn Scheme:
  Under this scheme our institution provides practical experiences to students in their relevant disciplines.
• In the Library the students are given training to maintain library records, organize books and monitor the students during library hours.
• In the Department of Physics under the label photography the students are skilled to capture and record the regular events of the college
• In the College Press the students are exposed to the art of writing, editing, organizing and printing.
• Departments of Botany, Zoology, Chemistry, Home Science and Commerce provide exhibition cum sale experiences to students. By creating a platform to exhibit and sell Eco-friendly and Home products, pave way to become women entrepreneurs in the near future.
• To transform low scorers and low achievers to learners of excellence.

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4. Evidence of Success

               With the intention of making all the students reach the epitome of success mentoring and remedial coaching classes are conducted after the class hours to improve their performance. Thus the low scorers and low achievers are transformed to learners of excellence. The research scholars of the institution are motivated to present papers at all levels and improve academically in their disciplines. The glory of the students is evident in the placement records. It is very apt to register the success levels of our students, for they excel in all fields. Many are in the noble profession of teaching the students at different levels. We are eligible to blow our own trumpet that many saradites are serving in our institution as teachers. Wherever they are as I.A.S officers, teachers, managers, homemakers, etc. they contribute their best talents to the society. We also take the pride of recognizing if not all, at least a few on March 8th every year. Thus our institution performs a wholesome work in uplifting the women community.

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Problems Encountered and Resources Required

               Students who are forced to drop out and discontinue their education due to early marriage and pregnancy are given counseling and motivated to continue their studies. Some students are permitted to re-do the semester, and complete their degree in a very successful manner. Our institution is unique in the context of Indian higher education.

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