5 years & counting: Topping is a habit with Ballari college

Eight postgraduates who couldn’t land government jobs decided to do their bit to turn around the education scene in remote areas. They started a PU college with a man, who himself had flunked the II PU exam, as its principal.
Today, students of Indu Independent PU College in Kottur of Ballari district figured in all the top five positions in the arts stream in the state.
Started in 2005, the college has been excelling since 2015, when it landed the top position in arts for the first time.Since then, the topmost slot has remained with the college. In 2015, three students were among those who landed the top 10 positions. The number increased to six in 2016, 10 in 2017, 16 in 2018 and 24 in 2019.
The college which began only with the arts stream recently introduced commerce and science classes too.
Astonished by the college’s results, the PU board even visited the institution, but only had appreciation to offer after learning it gets students to write 11 preparatory exams ahead of the finals. A section of PU board officials, however, said the college manages to bag top positions by getting its students to opt for easy-scoring subjects. However, principal Veerabhadrappa wondered what were the scores of several other colleges which too followed the same combinations.
“There are 55 subjects that students can choose from in PU. When we teach optional Kannada, what we have in mind is that the student can take the same subject if he or she applies for IAS or KAS. As many of my students come from rural areas and are not good in English, they don’t take the subject. They take Sanskrit, but some of them write it in English. Today, many jobs are available for those who have completed II PU and our students excel there,” he explained.
Veerabhadrappa said his college is driven by the motto, ‘Baravanige jothe baduku’ (Writing with life). “Having first-hand experience of the struggles of students from rural areas, I along with seven other lecturers started this institution to address the problems faced by such children. I, too, had failed in II PU and even after completing MA, I didn’t get a government job. We realised our students should not face the same plight,” he explained.
The college is mindful of its students’ projects after they walk out of campus. Those who do not take English as second language are put through spoken-English classes.
“We prepare students in such a way that they write a test after every chapter is over and from December onwards they write preparatory exams. Post evaluation, they are further taught with a focus on the mistakes they committed in each paper,” said Santhosh BM, a lecturer in the college.