Growing up was sudden! You are out of your college by the time you begin to make sense of its value. Institute of Journalism at Trivandrum offered me an opportunity to get back to learning.
News anchors used to be my ideals as a kid. Early 2000s was a time when dedicated news channels made their debut in Malayalam. I used to imagine myself being a newsreader someday. I got reminded of this as Rishi K Manoj sir took my interview for admission into the IJT Condensed journalism programme.
IJT came as a surprise. I almost felt English-Vinglish on my first day at IJT. My classmates belong to different age groups and they are from different walks of life. The energy level was amazing. The class was unbelievably plural. It has its benefits. Every debate in class provided me with fresh insights into issues and topics. Opinions of my classmates varied from extreme leftist to rightist. There were fierce arguments. But everyone respected opinions that are different from one's own. We agreed to disagree. I took home a rainbow everyday!
Then came the teaching. Almost every faculty member is serving or retired journalist with vast experience in their own field. For me, examples and experience sharing is precious in making sense of the practical realities. Classes at the IJT is rich in both the theoretical and practical knowledge. Take for instance, sessions on MoJo and video camera. They are memorable because of the active involvement of everyone in the class. We got a taste of the enormous curiosity inside everyone of us during those sessions. And certainly many of us felt a wish to do something beyond what we have been doing in our lives before joining IJT.
The New Media is an inseparable part of the society today. IJT syllabus of condensed journalism covers not only the print and visual media but also basics of the new media. Be it blogging or training for effectively using social media platforms, sessions on new media made me realise the bliss of being able to express oneself freely and fearlessly.
A note must be made on how proud I felt when I came to know about how the institute dealt with a complaint of sexual harassment against one of its faculty members. A meeting of the academic council was convened without delay and the faculty was recused of his official responsibilities without delay. By doing that, IJT has set an example. Sometimes an institute is defined by how it handles a crises. For the students including me, IJT has been defined.
News anchors used to be my ideals as a kid. Early 2000s was a time when dedicated news channels made their debut in Malayalam. I used to imagine myself being a newsreader someday. I got reminded of this as Rishi K Manoj sir took my interview for admission into the IJT Condensed journalism programme.
IJT came as a surprise. I almost felt English-Vinglish on my first day at IJT. My classmates belong to different age groups and they are from different walks of life. The energy level was amazing. The class was unbelievably plural. It has its benefits. Every debate in class provided me with fresh insights into issues and topics. Opinions of my classmates varied from extreme leftist to rightist. There were fierce arguments. But everyone respected opinions that are different from one's own. We agreed to disagree. I took home a rainbow everyday!
Then came the teaching. Almost every faculty member is serving or retired journalist with vast experience in their own field. For me, examples and experience sharing is precious in making sense of the practical realities. Classes at the IJT is rich in both the theoretical and practical knowledge. Take for instance, sessions on MoJo and video camera. They are memorable because of the active involvement of everyone in the class. We got a taste of the enormous curiosity inside everyone of us during those sessions. And certainly many of us felt a wish to do something beyond what we have been doing in our lives before joining IJT.The New Media is an inseparable part of the society today. IJT syllabus of condensed journalism covers not only the print and visual media but also basics of the new media. Be it blogging or training for effectively using social media platforms, sessions on new media made me realise the bliss of being able to express oneself freely and fearlessly.
A note must be made on how proud I felt when I came to know about how the institute dealt with a complaint of sexual harassment against one of its faculty members. A meeting of the academic council was convened without delay and the faculty was recused of his official responsibilities without delay. By doing that, IJT has set an example. Sometimes an institute is defined by how it handles a crises. For the students including me, IJT has been defined.
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