Holy Cross College Principal: Dr. Fr. Benny K. John Interview

Dr. Fr. Benny K. John is the Principal at Holy Cross College Agartala. He started serving in this role in 2012. He has a specialization in sociology and anthropology. The college is a catholic college/missionary college/Self-financed private institution. The objective of this institution is to educate the hearts and minds of the people. He believes in giving equal importance to instruction and training the values of ethics along with academics.

How do you communicate your motto across your faculty and students?

“Developing a culture of excellence, co-operation and respect among all stakeholders”

Our belief is that we belong to the same holy cross family even if we do not have a personal relationship with each other. Along with academics we are proficient in co-curricular activities and reach out programmes. I do ensure that students are included as appropriate in the decision making in the department. At the department, we keep on refreshing and developing value-added programmes. Our goal is to provide students with the skills they need to succeed. 

What is the college's curriculum like and how does it align with industry standards?

“Industry visits and interactions with top education leaders to better understand the domain”

As an affiliated college, our curriculum is prepared by the university. As per the policy of the holy cross college, we strive to make the course more enriching for the students. We have students going out for industry visits and participating in social service. Even though we are geographically limited, we try to ensure that we have a good relationship with the industries around us. Also as a part of that initiative, we have management professionals from the industry as a part of the IQSE team. They can provide us with more insight on how to improve ourselves and adhere to industry standards.

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How are you managing the current pandemic?

“Taking several initiatives to enhance student interaction and experience with online learning”

During this pandemic, it was difficult to switch from traditional campus learning to a completely online mode. Campus life provides more than books and enables more peer learning and social interaction which was missing online. Holy Cross took various initiatives to make online learning more interactive and effective for the students. Students can access our online counselling centres for emotional and psychological support. There are some students who face network issues in online mode but as per our policy, we are always there to help, either on call or text.

What’s the college aiming to do in the next 10 years?

“The college is eager to expand its course offerings and become a fully autonomous college”

We visualize that we will grow into an institution and eventually reach a university status. The New Education policy has made our vision more realisable. When a college grows to 15 years of age we could apply for autonomous status. If we continue on the same path, then in 3 year’s time we can apply for becoming an autonomous college. When that happens we can have more freedom to explore and expand the different courses and variety. We have applied for PG courses and have sufficient staff and facilities for them. 

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In light of the current pandemic situation, what do you advise students?

“Students need to adapt rapidly to blended learning since it is the future"

Our teachers and administration are looking forward to having students in our classrooms soon. However, the blended mode of learning seems to be the future, and we are striving to make it the best possible experience for our students. Almost a year has passed now. As a result, we had to switch over to online. Microsoft class support software and an ERP system were purchased for the administration. We have updated ourselves in adopting these new tools to extend our support to the students.