Dr. Ritu Gupta is working as the Head of Botany Department at Kanoria PG Mahila Mahavidyalaya. She completed her B.Sc. in Science (Botany Zoology and Chemistry) stream, M.Sc. in Botany, and Ph.D. in Botany (Medicinal Plants). She is NET Qualified and has attended orientation and refreshers in multiple courses. She has 19+ years of experience in teaching. She has published her papers in various journals.

Kanoria PG Mahila Mahavidyalaya Jaipur

What are your roles and responsibilities?

“Providing solution of their issues is my prime motto”

Being the HOD of the Botany Department, my main accountabilities for my students are to provide a quality educational experience, organize guest lectures, workshops, seminars and excursions. To ensure that the syllabus is completed on the scheduled time and all the practicals are conducted properly. I always ensure to solve their queries and problems related to internal as well as university examinations on time.

How do you establish healthy relations with the students and fellow faculty?

“By ensuring trustworthy, cordial and open ambient”

A healthy relationship is backed by being friendly with students. I ensure to be always available for them so that I can sort out their queries and problems and counsel them for their future endeavor. Coming to my colleagues, I keep a supportive nature and always motivate them for their academic enrichment. Meetings and discussions are held with fellow faculty members where they are asked to give their suggestions and discuss any issues.

How do you bring in a practical and industry-oriented approach towards subjects?

“Theoretical knowledge is supplemented with on-site and research-based tasks”

Botany is a practical-based subject and to ensure students can grasp full knowledge of the subject we offer them a lot of practical tasks and fieldwork. Experiments conducted in botany laboratories are designed to equip students with subject domain knowledge and technical skills pertaining to plants in a holistic manner.

How do you strategize and update the curriculum to make it befitting for the students?

“It is prepared and updated as per university guidelines”

We follow the curriculum designed by the University of Rajasthan. It gets updated from time to time and still is under the process of restructuring according to National Education Policy. The syllabus is distributed amongst the teachers at the beginning of the session. Thereafter, a term-wise plan for the syllabus is drawn wherein the topic and the expected duration to cover it are mentioned.

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What are your views on the placements and higher education of the students from your department?

“Our students are doing best in both areas”

The students of our college are achieving new heights. Many of them have cleared various competitive exams and have been selected in the government and private sector. After completing M. Sc. Botany, several students have qualified NET-JRF and are pursuing Ph.D. from reputed institutes and Universities.

How students are prepared for this competitive world outside college?

“We cheer them to learn new skills and connect with professional people”

To cope properly with the competition in the outside world, students are told to believe in themselves, have a positive attitude and remain updated. They are encouraged to up-skill themselves to face the emerging challenges. Students are advised to have open discussions that can help them learn about and feel comfortable with the outer world.

What extracurricular activities are offered by the college to enhance the skills of the students?

“Numerous activities are offered like professional sessions and training programs”

We organize various co-curricular activities such as workshops, powerpoint presentations, extension lectures and seminars to enrich their knowledge and enhance their skills. To enhance the practical knowledge of plant identification, botanical excursions are conducted.

What are some of the challenges you are facing to uplift the quality of education of your department?

“Respect of time, honesty and thrust to learn new things is declining”

Sincerity, discipline and zeal for learning are deteriorating in the students. During the Covid pandemic, due to online teaching students have become dependent on gadgets and their command of language and writing skills is gradually decreasing. They are more inclined towards short tricks rather than hard work and somewhat lose their creativity.

What are the approaches you use apart from curriculum to teaching the students?

“Organize various experimental tasks”

Hands-on workshops, PowerPoint presentations by the students, chart model competitions, etc. are organized to inculcate interest and deep understanding of the subject. Students often go to forestry training institutes and arboretums to train themselves in plant identification and conservation.

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Any valuable advice would you like to the students for a prosperous career ahead?

“Concentrate on things that matter to you and work hard for them”

I would advise my students to stay focused on their goals, seek opportunities and strive for excellence. Students are given guidance regarding preparation and cracking competitive exams. It is important to focus on the kind of attitude that you choose to display when you are at work turning your dreams into reality, rather than what you already know.