INSTITUTIONAL BEST PRACTICES

Kurseong College is established in the year 1967 on the foothills of Kurseong Town with a magnificent view of the plains and greeneries. Almost 70 percent of the students of Kurseong College are from a very humble economic and educational background, mostly from tea garden area and far villages. The best practices of the College in this case have to be compatible to both the situations of students and the present trend of the educational arena almost all around the country.There are few important practices which our college has given a place of priority.

One of the best practices of the College is The Fresher’s Welcome Programme, organised every year in the beginning of thenew academic year. Since it has been already stated that the students are from different socio-economic backgrounds, and the Fresher’s Programme adds a guiding factor initiative for the new students. The students are introduced with the teachers,departments, offices, library and other systems of the college vice-e-versa.

The College also has the best practice of NSS/ NCC.The two units of NSS function in Kurseong College with two programme officers and a good number of students enrolled on it. The NSS not only does its normal programme as scheduled by the national programme calendar but also makes a point to meet the other necessary factors to be addressed in the local periphery. The villages adopted and the activities out of those activities pave the way for the students to understand the values and responsibilities of the social significance. These activities include the literary and social interactions inviting the local personalities of the place. The motto of our college motivates each one for the social participation and involvement. Hence after attaining the higher education from the college, students develop a sense of belonging to the society as well as a sense of responsibility towards the social environment we live in. The NCC unit of Kurseong College has significance in terms of its performance and social participation. The NCC unit is managed by full-fledged trained ANO (Female) and active volunteers leading the total sub-division. The NCC, in addition to its regular activities also carries social awareness and responsible activities such as legal awareness, traffic management, anti-human trafficking programmes etc. The intention behind such programmes is totally a significant gesture of the entire team to make young students and minds to be familiar with our social responsibilities and our role in it.

Kurseong College is situated in the foothills surrounded by greeneries. The College maintains a very good record of taking a healthy initiative to promote Green and sustainable environment in and around the area. Apart from NSS, NCC College ensures a healthy participation from all the students as a whole to promote the cause. The College has maintained a very good rapport with the local Forest Department to invite and initiate such activities in the area. Moreover, the NSS, NCC, Botany Department works hand in hand to promote the green and sustainable environment with a constructive idea to consecrate such activities to the literary legends of the place.

GREEN CAMPUS INITIATIVES

The college maintains a Campus garden with varieties of perennial and ornamental flowers, ornamental trees, and medicinal herbs commonly found in the region.

Kurseong College is working towards becoming a plastic-free campus and students and teachers are encouraged to use reusable water bottles instead of single-use plastic bottles. The students are provided with water filters and dispensers to be used as refill stations making it easy to rehydrate sustainably.

The college segregates its solid waste by using different bins placed around the campus. The e-waste generated on the campus is collected separately and sold to the waste picker. The food waste generated in the canteen and hostel is collected and composted in bins partially anaerobically. Later they are transferred to compost pits and used later as manure.

To reduce emissions generated through transportation the College practices No-Vehicle Day on the 5^th of every month.

The shift from the traditional lighting system to LED bulbs has significantly reduced power consumption.

To save paper the college has adopted digital communication thereby becoming greener.

To overcome the shortage of water during the monsoons, arising due to frequent faults in the pipelines, the college has set up a rainwater harvesting system with a capacity of 8000 liters for an uninterrupted supply of water.

FINANCIAL AID TO TEACHING AND NON-TEACHING STAFF DURING MEDICAL EMERGENCIES

The working environment at Kurseong College is built upon feelings of kinship and cooperation and staff members share a strong bond of mutual respect and affinity among each other which is a prerequisite for creating a healthy and conducive working environment. This promotes teamwork and camaraderie leading to the smooth functioning of various student-related activities both academic and co-curricular. It also means that staff members stand by each other through thick and thin. The Teachers’ Council maintains a corpus of the fund through voluntary annual subscription from the teachers which is used for various purposes including providing financial aid to members of the teaching and non-teaching staff in times of medical emergencies, death in the family, etc. A sum of Rs 5000/- each was given to the staff members during the death of their family member. Financial aid of Rs 25,000/- was also given to one staff member who was undergoing treatment for a serious medical condition.