Kottur's Indu PU College has been bagging first rank in arts for 10 years

Kottur: When most Pre-University colleges in Karnataka give primacy to science and commerce, Indu PU College in Kottur has been bagging the first rank in arts for the past 10 years.

It has succeeded in convincing students that an arts course does provide jobs and those who pursue it can also crack competitive examinations, including UPSC, in the government sector.

The arts stream has over 600 students with each section having over 80 boys and girls. The science and commerce streams have around 200 students each.

Most students come from rural areas, mostly from Kalyana Karnataka region, and are children of either farmers or those working in the informal sector. 

There are no cut-off marks to join first PU in this college. 

Indu PU College Management Secretary H N Veerabhadrappa, said, "After interacting with lecturers who had evaluated II PU answer-scripts for more than a decade, we learnt that good handwriting and accurate answers were the key. So we made copy-writing in English and Kannada mandatory for students. Besides, we conduct 12 preparatory examinations on the lines of the main examination from December and lecturers share the answer-scripts with students to point out where they need to improve." 

"When our student Netravati bagged the first rank in arts in 2015 for the first time with 579 marks out of 600, many reputed PU colleges in the state attributed it to copying,” he said.

“When another student of ours, Anita P, got the first rank in 2016, many colleges were sceptical saying it was because the exam was held in our own college. After we made a written request to the department to change the examination centre, our student Chaitra B silenced critics by bagging the first rank in 2017 with 589 marks. Since then, the college has been bagging the first rank in the arts stream," he added.

Encouraging arts students doesn’t mean that science and commerce students are neglected. Though there are no first ranks, they figure in the top 10 ranks in the state.

The college has also improved it pass percentage from 60% during its inception in 2006 to above 90 per cent in the past one decade. 

Second PU arts students Hemalatha, Kotramma and Mamata who scored above 90 per cent in first PU, told DH, "We are made to work rigorously. Lecturers finish the syllabus by the end of November as classes begin from April. We then focus on preparatory exams."

Mahesh H, a Kannada lecturer, told DH, "We work as a team."

He said dramas prescribed in the II PU syllabus are either enacted in the college and videos are shown on TV to help students understand the lessons.

All first rank holders of the college have chosen Sanskrit in place of English.

LR Sanjana Bai, who topped arts stream in the state this year, told DH multiple preparatory exams proved highly beneficial. “Lecturers motivated us to do well in the exams,” she said.