By ANJALI NAURIYAL
The founders of Dolphin (PG) Institute of Biomedical and Natural Sciences envisioned it as a temple aimed at developing ‘independent learning’ and ‘research abilities’ amongst its students, ultimately leading to the enhancement of their potential. In an exclusive confab with Garhwal Post, the Director of the institute, Dr Arun Kumar, outlines the salient features of the mission launched by the Chairman, Arvind Gupta.
Emphasising that the ‘impact of true education’ can be assessed by the kind of ‘human beings that students become’, rather than ‘subject knowledge’, Dr Kumar states that the centre-piece of the academic effort at Dolphin is character formation. “The education sector cannot be purely commercial. Education as per our constitution is a basic need. But government suffers from certain limitations. Keeping those limitations in mind, the private sector has a key role to play, and therefore it should be welcomed. This is the utmost need of the times, especially keeping in mind the escalating population of the country. India has the highest number of youngsters in the world, who need to be educated and therefore privatisation should be the key thrust area. What the government may be unable to do, the private sector can do effectively.”
Here, the question of affordability of the private sector becomes the moot question, to which Dr Kumar avers, “Most of the private institutes including Dolphin are easily affordable for the middle class, which is a huge blessing. Plus, private institutions provide great employment opportunities to a large number of people. In Dolphin, itself, over 250 individuals have been employed. Multiply this by 4, then easily 1000 people are being sustained. This is the direct benefit. In contrast, in many government institutes there is a dearth of teachers as they have either not been employed or the lengthy employment process is pending. And, in many cases, people have gone to court and procured a stay. New teachers have hardly been employed in government institutes. It is thanks to private institutes that thousands of students are being benefitted.”
The foremost USP of Dolphin, he claims, is its honesty; honesty towards students, parents and society. “We ensure a superlative academic atmosphere. And, as far as parents are concerned, we are less commercial and more humane in our approach towards them. The commercial aspect should be comfortable to enable society to develop. The benefits that should accrue to society through our presence are well in place.”
Dolphin believes in handholding students at all times. “We counsel them regularly and work on their personality development with sincerity. We have a placement cell. We have a sizeable number of staff members. The teaching load is such that teachers do not feel unnecessarily burdened, and can concentrate on academic excellence easily,” he underlines.
Social responsibility is high on Dolphin’s scheme of things. “Environment is our main focus area. We do whatever we can to safeguard our surroundings. In the health sector, too, we contribute majorly. We run 5 physiotherapy centres in the city. We hold regular medical camps for the benefit of society at large, especially in villages. We have created a Dolphin Student Welfare Society to instill a sense of ‘service’ amongst our students. All students are members of this society. Our students conduct all activities related to social service under this umbrella.”
Also, Dolphin runs a centre called ‘Ma Balasundari Mahila Sarva Rozgar Yojna’ that trains village women in sewing, knitting and embroidery, apart from conducting computer and beautician courses with minimal registration charges and no fees.
Talking about educational reforms, he states that a change in the perspective of government is a must. “The tendency to disparage all institutions under a blanket estimation and judgment must be discontinued. Government only imposes rules and regulations on us without keeping in mind their economic feasibility or practicality,” he emphasises.
