Fr.Agnel -the glorified animal sanctuary. Review on Fr CRIT, Vashi, Navi Mumbai

A disclaimer : I am a student of Fr.Agnels,Vashi (Degree, Information Technology, Final Sem). My views and opinions are not biased, are not meant to (intentionally) offend anyone. You may find this review reeking of antagonism and hatred,but I speak from my heart. And I speak the truth. Lastly, I don't go overboard regarding any point that I cover in this review.

I am a direct second year admission, which doesn't go to say that I didn't experience the same horrors as others did. I went through my share of assorted troubles for having joined this concentration camp of a college.

The College :

General Environment

This could be the only place where I can actually speak as a passive observer without any show of hatred. The college building looks good and the environs are clean. Classrooms are large and airy. Fans and tubelights work (M.S.E.B permitting), Computer labs are well equipped and air conditioned. There's also a special wireless computer lab in the offing, incidentally the first of its kind in Mumbai.A part of the fourth floor of this college is devoted to the management college.Management Students have it the best. Air-conditioned classrooms and syndicate (?) rooms and what-not.

The Library is good and keeps most of the books that you'll need for your program.It seldom gives you a reason to complain.

There's a coffee and tea counter in the foyer on the degree side. Tea and Iced tea are passably good. Coffee looks and tastes bad. And for some unfathomable reason, is priced higher than tea.

There's a small ground bang opposite the foyer, half of which is utilised for parking vehicles (Ladies and Gents separate, I dont know why). The other half is used for playing cricket,mostly.

Special mention must go to the well maintained hostel. I'm not a hostelite, but from what my hostelite friends say, I conclude that the boys' hostel is good (which goes to say that the Girls' hostel is better). In fact, the hostel facilities are some of the best in Mumbai city.

The canteen is roomy and well maintained. But it serves stale food,so that defeats the whole purpose of spending time to review it.

This is the place where most misconceptions arise. There is no trace of doubt in my mind that the faculty (at least for Information Technology Department) is BAD. And I'm not joking or exaggerating or saying this merely for the sake of it. I have spent 3 years here and I know for sure that with a countably few exceptions, the staff sucks.

At the start of the semester, the respective teachers announce the syllabus and induce the mortal fear about the vast portion and that the subject is difficult and more trash of this sort. Teaching is analogous to putting up slides of chapters on the OHP and reading out the contents. A lecture will go on for as long as it has to. (Or until all the slides have been read out aloud to a comatose class)

The classroom sessions are barely interactive. Lectures induce sleep and boredom.Though this is fairly normal, what pisses students off is the rigid practice of completing the portion by any means necessary-

Forcing the students to give seminars on entire chapters.

Repeatedly threateningto give less term work, if the students don't comply.This serves to break student's morale and makes them question the real purpose of education.

Some inexplicably stupid acts deserve a mention :

Forcing students to attend technical seminars and forcing them to pay money for attending it.

Forced Parent-teacher meetings, where all doubts are silenced with a single answer - We enforce discpline.

This doesn't serve to explain the amount of hatred one develops for the college. It explains why students fail to manifest the higher purpose of education which gets lost in these mindless acts of discipline.

The crowd consists a mix of people from central and western suburbs; Central students been the majority. Thankfully,there is no dress code. Occasionally you do get to see pretty girls from the degree and the management section. The FEs been the most effervescent (since they have yet to witness the carnage) take their time to evolve into burden carrying zombies.FEs are always eager to participate in all cultural fests,namely FACES,Eta Max, Criteria etc. Two semesters down they are found cussing about everything that moves. By far the crowd gives you a feel of the college environment. Freshers are heard asking each other about tests,assignments,retests in hushed tones during the assembly.

The Assembly

The Assembly deserves a special mention here because I thought the entire practice of remembering the Lord and praying for everybody's well being was limited to schools.As somebody else mentioned correctly in similar review over here, the assembly IS indeed a glorious waste of time. It becomes even more painful,when the chairman Fr.Orlando decides to unleash nuggets of wisdom on hapless students. He delivers random speeches on any conceivable topic- ranging from AIDS to alcohol which do not make any kind of palpable sense.

A special mention to the amount of effort that one has to put in to enter the college in the first place. 3 security guards (no less) check if you are wearing an I -card across your neck. The college takes ruthless pleasure in treating students like dogs and perhaps it makes this propoganda clear at the college gates.

 Conclusion

This is not a conclusive review. I doubt that it is even a review. It is a collage of my observations,and I am ruthlessly honest as far as the fine points are concerned.If you are looking for a fun-filled joyride on your way to the graduation day,then you are grossly mistaken. One false move and you find yourself in deep trouble. This place is suitable for low-life losers,underdogs,geeks and people who have made a career out of ass-kissing.