1. Title of the Practice:  “Rasiklal M. Dhariwal General Knowledge Examination”.

Objective of practice:

· To raise awareness about competitive examinations and boost the confidence of the secondary school students.

· To educate rural students about competitive examinations and improve their knowledge.

· To foster more significant interaction between high school teachers and college staff.

· To encourage active participation of students in grades 5 to 9, helping them to prepare for State and National competitive examinations.

· To introduces them to college campus, the educational and research environment at graduate level, and various support services that institute offers.

· To make available opportunity to students to appear to examination only in two rupees still the two rupees are there in currency.

The context:

· College plays a significant role in providing higher education opportunities for students of Shirur, Shrigonda, and Parner tehsils.

· To promote educational awareness among rural students, college organizes various activities, including the 'Rasiklal M. Dhariwal General Knowledge Examination.'

· This competition was initiated in 1997. It is the idea to make available such competitive examination in only two rupees to the secondary school students.

· This initiative has strengthened the social connection between schools and college, aiming to raise awareness about competitive examinations among school-going children.

The practice:

· The examination takes place on a Sunday suffix to Swami Vivekananda's birthday during Youth Week (Yuva Saptaha) in every year.

· School College Complex Committee in association with Competitive Examination Committee proactively notifies to schools in the vicinity of Shirur, Shrigonda, and Parner tehsils with the assistance of our college students.

· The examination is classified as Group I (Junior) for students in grades 5 to 7 and Group II (Senior) for those in grades 8 to 9.

· The question paper covers eleven subjects, including English, Science, Social Science, Current Affairs, Computer Science, Mathematics, Sports, Intelligent Quotient, Marathi, History, and Civics.

· Each group receives a separate multiple-choice question paper consisting of 100 questions.

· In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, our college shifted to an online mode for the examinations of both groups. To maximize accessibility, we shared online examination link through social media and WhatsApp groups, reaching school Headmasters.

· In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, College conducted the examination in online mode, waiving off the participation fee.

· College selects the top three performers and runners-up in this event.

· This unique examination is completed in a single-day program nearly three thousand students, along with their parents and teachers.

Evidence of success:

· Participants of the examination aim to tackle a range of competitive exams in the future, including U.P.S.C., M.P.S.C., TET, Army, Navy, Air Force, JEE, GATE, banking, SET/NET, NEET, and railway exams after their graduation or post-graduation.

· Participating in Rasiklal M. Dhariwal General Knowledge Examination during their high school years has helped many students to secure Class I and Class II positions in state and central government roles, such as U.P.S.C., I.P.S., M.P.S.C., banking, finance, railway, post office, police, and B.S.F.

· Students actively engage in this competition, gaining valuable insights into competitive examination at an early stage of their education.

Problems encountered and resources required:

· Insufficient transport facility for the participants especially from the remote area seems a problem in the entire process. In order to overcome this problem, it is necessary to make transport facility available to the student from the respective school.

· Due to the COVID-19 pandemic during 2019-2021, organizing offline examinations was not feasible, heance college conducted this examinations in online mode.

· In online mode of examination some students may not have access to smartphones and considering potential issues such as power outages and unreliable internet connectivity, college has taken steps to ensure accessibility to reduce examination-related anxiety.

2. Title of the Practice: “Maitri Pustakanshi   (Friendship with Books)”

Objective of practice:

· To foster a 'Reading Culture' amongst students of college and nearby high schools.

· To increase students' awareness of our rich cultural heritage through various literary genres such as novels, poetry, storybooks, and autobiographies of freedom fighters and influential figures who have made significant contributions to our nation.

· To provide access to encyclopedias, reference books for competitive examination.

· To re-connect the students to the world of books, which was disrupted during Covid-19 pandemic.

· To cultivate a reading-friendly environment on the premises and encourage students to reduce their screen time.

The context:

· Chandmal Tarachand Bora College of Arts, Commerce and Science is a renowned educational institution which maintains its special identity by conducting the Best Practices in Shirur, Shrigonda and Parner Tehsils.

· College tries to promote ‘Reading Culture’ among students through this novel and ideal activity ‘Maitri Pustakanshi’ (Friendship with Books).

· The main concept of the activity is to showcase all necessary books to college students from rural areas and contribute in creating a knowledge-oriented generation.

The practice:

· This program has started in the academic year 2021-22 and is organized on every Thursday at porch of the Main Building.

· It covers various themes like to familiar with competitive exam books, college annual magazines, daily newspapers, introducing encyclopedias, and learning curriculum.

· The college library has given access to school teachers and needy people.

· This program is open to all students and staff, creating a great response and raising awareness about our college's rich library of 95,397 books.

Evidence of success:

· This initiative fosters curiosity, intelligence, and early examination readiness in students.

· It made them aware about the availability of books on competitive examination like IIT JEE, NEET, MH-CET, CAT, and SET/NET, prompting them to consider future opportunities.

· Surprisingly, it encouraged non-library-goers to visit library regularly, read newspapers, magazines, research journals, novels, and famous books from regional languages fostering reading culture.

Problems encountered and resources required:

· Keeping students connected to the library is a challenge so Library and Information Science committee started friendship with books activity, and initially the students ignored it.

· Later on, all the staff in their respective classes made aware the students about the importance of this activity, and then the students’ inclination towards this activity increased.