GU introduced semester and choice-based credit system for undergraduate courses
this year.
GU introduced semester and choice-based credit system for
undergraduate courses this year. However, with no prescribed textbooks, students
are a confused lot. So, three students from M G Science have taken it upon themselves
to prepare textbooks.
It was an ideal Teachers Day gift from three college students to their department
head a textbook designed by them after painstakingly collecting and compiling information
from the internet and reference books over a period of a month.
Unavailability of textbooks for B.Sc course is what prompted Jay Patel, Maulik Vala
and Nupur Sanghvi, first year students of M G Institute of Science, to design a
zoology textbook.
Before implementing the semester and choice based credit system for undergraduate
courses this year, Gujarat University had given colleges a long list of reference
books. But that didn’t quite help; instead it added to the confusion of students
and teachers.
So Jay, Maulik and Nupur decided to come up with the colleges own textbook Easy
to Learn for the benefit of their batch mates and teachers.
Jay said, there are a dozen reference books available on every subject. We were
confused about which book to refer to for a given topic. Also, these are priced
between Rs 500 and Rs 5, 000. Not every student can afford such costly books.
Nupur said, the library would not have more than four copies of the same reference
book. So, what does the other students do As they say, necessity is the mother of
invention. We had no choice but to have our own textbooks.
The three classmates joined hands for a never before-thought-of project compiling
textbooks.
We wanted to make learning simpler for our classmates. So, based on the syllabus,
we started gathering information. Our teachers helped with the editing. We even
included diagrams and figures. After a month-long process of collecting, modifying
and rejecting material, we compiled a zoology textbook, said Maulik Vala, who studied
in Devashish School.
Jay is a resident of Mumbai while Nupur hails from Jodhpur. What makes the book
different from other textbooks is the fact that it also incorporates Gujarati words
for English jargon for the benefit of students from Gujarati medium.
This is our first attempt. More students have joined us and we will now be coming
up with microbiology, chemistry and botany textbooks. Students can either buy the
reasonably priced books from us or photocopy the same, said Nupur. Later, they also
plan to put up the textbooks on a new website so that students from other colleges
can download the material.
Pratibha Joshi, head of the zoology department, said, this is a huge surprise. I
did help them in editing and filtering the content for the textbook. But I never
thought they will come up with a book so soon. It is indeed the best Teachers Day
gift I have received.
Since there is no textbook in the market that covers all the topics in the syllabus,
this book is going to help students a lot, she said.
Principal B K Jain, too, is all praise for the three students. The work done by
them is very impressive. Even teachers do not take such commendable initiatives.
These students spent money out of their pockets to design a textbook.
Jay, Maulik and Nupur also plan to design textbooks every semester. If
you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem, isn’t it though the
three of us took the initiative, we are glad to have more students willing to participate
in the endeavor. Well design textbooks even for the next semester, says Jay.
Courtesy: Times of India
