SO, THIS IS going to be a proper college year after the two years that the pandemic ate up. At least, that is my hope and prayer for the young ones. The pandemic years did not just mess with education. It messed with relationships. Between my first year bachelor’s and final year master’s at St Stephen’s, I saw eight batches, counting seniors and juniors. How many people are that? And the bonds made in those years endure to this day. My disappointment is that the pandemic took that opportunity away from the young ones.

Some of us who studied in residential colleges know about the additional bonds built among residents. The pranks, jokes and the stories! Hostels are a world by themselves. You gripe about the food, but I know alumni who go back looking for the same fare just for a bite of nostalgia.

A professor from a storied college in India, reputed for its vast campus and traditions, told an alumnus that the third-year bachelor’s students who walked into campus in late 2021 and early 2022 behaved like first years! Well, they were first years for all practical purposes, weren’t they? They had not seen their campus for the first two years of their course. Imagine the plight of professors, having to deal with a campus brimming with ‘first-years’! Ah, Covid, you have no idea of the mess you made.

Anyway, this year, we put all of that behind us and step into a brave new world, and THE WEEK has a guide for it. This issue of your favourite newsweekly is powered by THE WEEK-Hansa Research survey on India’s best colleges. Frankly, it is a bit of an alphabet soup in there… NEP, CUET, AICTE, LASE (that’s Page 118), FYUP (Page 122), but Senior Correspondent Sneha Bhura has made it smooth reading.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who helms the portfolios of education, skill development and entrepreneurship, spoke to THE WEEK exclusively and addressed everything from CUET to the concerns about college lecturers losing jobs. M. Jagadesh Kumar, chairman of the University Grants Commission, too, spoke at length. My thanks to both of them for finding time to reach out to the readers of THE WEEK.

I also loved the guest column by Dr Meenakshi Gopinath. It kills me to compliment another college in Delhi University (just kidding!), but the former principal of Lady Shri Ram College has made her points eloquently. She makes an excellent case to consider the “hidden curriculum” in colleges.

Another interesting education article in this issue is the one on Global Math Circle, an organisation which aims to make maths easy for schoolchildren. I can see you grinning, and that was my response, too, initially. But, the good people of Global Math Circle do make a point. It is on Page 77, and you will like it.

Also, what was your maths nightmare? Calculus, I have heard many say. On THE WEEK’s desk, say trigonometry, and you will see quite a few seasoned journalists turning white!