Life at GEC Raipur

The civil engineering curriculum is in fact very easy to understand. It offers a balance between technical knowledge and practicality. Subjects such as structural design and strength of materials heavily focused on numerical concepts while subjects like environmental engineering and hydrology offered theoretical learning. However a lot of the study material is no longer in use and has become obsolete when compared to the current working scenario. Introduction of newer and improved materials calls for new teaching which is yet to be incorporated in the course. But at the same time this can only be changed by the government's education board as the college has no say in the same. Exams were extremely easy to score and were frequent enough for students to easily grasp and retain content

Internships were offered by PWD, PHE, Railways and similar government bodies for civil engineering students. Each project had a different objective. For eg: My internship was in a remote village overviewing the installation of water distribution system under the Prime Minister's jal jeevan mission. Some students had internships that overloooked building construction and railway cambering.

Final year students are eligible to appear for campus placements which starts towards the end of their 7th semester. Companies that visited for Civil Engineering: L&T, Adani, Stratview Research, PlanetSpark and several local firms. The highest packages were offered by Adani (approx 7 LPA) and L&T (6-7 LPA). Around 5-7 students received placement offers from the mentioned companies. It is important to note that a lot many students did not sit for campus placements as they had different career aspirations (government jobs, higher education, business ventures etc.) My plans were to prepare for upcoming competitive government exams as well as try my hand at something different and creative

Students belonging to SC/ST category are granted a tuition fee waiver and are eligible for scholarships to cover their expenses as well, whereas OBC-NCL students receive a 30% fee concession. In accordance to the "Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao" scheme, a tuition fee waiver is offered to girls of all categories as well. Hence, all category students need only pay a complusory of 2650/- rs. that includes lab charges, library fee, development charges etc. Male students from General category during admission need to pay 18,000/- rs. along with the compulsory charges as annual fee, which can be reimbursed given that they are amongst the top 3 in their respective branches (merit scholarship). Stationary (notebooks, geometry sets, chart paper, drawing board etc.) is also provided free of cost to SC/ST students on behalf of the college. As a general category girl, I had to pay zero tuition fees. This system has not changed over the years and continues to strive towards affordability.

The college offers several clubs to join and be a part of, with each club having their own presidents to delegate club responsibilites. Some were: NSS and NCC, Suruchi (Singing club), Pixels( Photography club), Dance club, sports clubs, Language club. Club events were frequently organised and open to all GEC students. The annual fests were AVESH(cultural) and AAYAM (sports) which would be held around the month of febraury- march. The library offers unlimited resources. Students need not buy any new books. Instead the college library provides coursebooks free of cost to all students. General category students are allowed a maximum of 5 books whereas SC/ST are allowed 8 books to be issued under their name. The campus offers various sports facilities, with new and top of the line equipment and kits. A new order of equipment is sent out every year right before the sports fest. Further, sports teams represent their college at intercollege and zonal tournaments, and can go on for university team tryouts.

I had applied to colleges under Indraprastha University via my JEE score and to colleges under the chhattisgarh board using my 12th board marks. Since my JEE score wasn't high enough for colleges like NIT,IIT I had turned to Chhattisgarh State colleges for more options. Further my finances could not allow private colleges at the time. Hence I applied to GEC Raipur, along with colleges like GEC Bilaspur, GEC Jagldalpur and other engineering colleges in the state. For admission into the state government engineering colleges one must clear the CGPET exam. Due to the covid situation in 2020 this rule saw a temporary change and allowed students to take admissions using their 12th board marks. This allowed me a direct seat for the most sought after degree, civil engineering, in Chhattisgarh.

Faculty members of the college were always extremely helpful and resourceful, especially during final year projects. They even would give key insights to students preparing for competitive exams. Civil branch has around 7-8 professors for different subjects. There were no bad experiences with any faculty member as each had an opinion that was valuable and guiding. The exam pattern at GEC Raipur is the same as the other GECs in Jagdalpur and Bilaspur. There would be 2 midterm tests that would be held at 2 month intervals, followed by the final exam for each semester, and assignments after each chapter completion. Each year had two semesters, Nov-Dec and Apr-May. Exam difficulty would be easy to moderate, heavily infulenced by previous year question papers. Most questions were expected by students and hence easy to answer and decipher. Out of 40, only a handful students would fail an exam, which could easily be conquered in the backlog exam. The curriculum followed AICTE guidelines and was at par with top ranking colleges of the country.

Usual nightly hangouts were in the main city area rather than inside the campus. Within the campus includes: Hostel and campus area, Canteens, Gym and sports grounds. Each day students would come together to play. Outside campus: Marine drive, Amrutulya Raipur is a relatively safe city for young kids, especially women so night-outs would be no issue. Usually hostel and PG gates would close by 9:30-10 PM