Principal's Message

Dr. Somnath Vibhute

(MA PhD. SET NET)

If work is worship then St. Gonsalo Garcia College has been my place of worship for the past 25 years. It is indeed a great honor to lead this prestigious college. The foundation of this great institution was laid down by our founder Prin. Rev. Fr. John Rumao way back in 1984. The college was blessed by then pope John Paul - II on 9th Feb 1986. The college has a reputable history of legendary principals since its beginning. Fr. John Rumao was succeeded by historians Fr. Joseph Wellingkar and Dr. Regin D’Silva. Then Rev. Fr. Dr. Solomon Rodrigues in his long tenure tried to develop the extra-curricular and co-curricular abilities of our institution. He was succeeded by an academician Dr. Dominic Lopes followed by a well-known poet Dr. Cecilia Carvalho.

Swami Vivekanand said, “Education is the manifestation of perfection already in the man” means ''माणसात असलेल्या परिपूर्णतेचे प्रकटीकरण म्हणजे शिक्षण'' At this college, we all the stakeholders strive hard to march forward towards this perfection under the guidance and leadership of our patron His Grace Rt. Rev. Archbishop Dr. Felix Machado. I am fortunate to have the guiding light of such stalwarts, inspiring us to take this institution way forward to touch new greater heights. Education is not the amount of information that is put into the brain and runs right there undigested; rather it is a process to build a character with equal development of mental and intellectual abilities to become self-reliant. We strongly believe in this and have been successfully marching towards this goal over the past three and half decades.

Missionaries in Vasai had dedicated their lives to convert the dreams of spreading higher education into the goal of a learned society. Their actions have been yielding the fruits in the form of many thousands of youth passing out from this college with flying colors. We look forward to the beginning of the new academic year 2022-23 as I envision the tremendous capacities in our human resources, be it professors, library staff, administrative office, or technical / support staff, as they are competent enough to cater to the diverse needs of the students across different activities such as sports, cultural, social service, lifelong learning, NCC vis-a-vis academics. We believe in the culture of respecting, celebrating, and nurturing individual differences to gain the all-round development of our students. We respect democratic values, secular beliefs, and multi-religious harmony and try to imbibe this in our budding generation on the campus.

Covid - 19 has exposed the entire universe to different challenges to humankind. It has drastically enforced digitization in education. We need to welcome and embrace this opportunity in the calamity. We live in the digital era and information technology has conquered all aspects of our lives. It is indispensable to learn the art of modern means of disseminating information among students. Classrooms coupled with e-classrooms can add value to modern learning. We ensure the widespread use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for the up-to-date learning experience. I feel pround to announce that our campus is now the “cashless campus” as all the payments are accepted with scan to pay facility. The entire admission process including payment of fees is ensured with online mode. Gradually we aim at a plastic-free and eco-friendly campus with Go Green alternatives coupled with a medium-term objective of use of solar power on the campus and rainwater harvesting. The college is gearing up to diversify its portfolio of different courses and programs blending traditional knowledge with a modern approach to enhance the skills and capabilities to meet the needs of the contemporary industry. Keeping these things in mind, the college management has been working tirelessly to expand, renovate and modernize the physical infrastructure with a new building coupled with the state-of-the-art technology with 36 new classrooms. A new administrative office with more space for the staff and visitors is made available on the ground floor.

Covid-19 new normal has created a learning vacuum and skill deficiency among the students. And the learning deficit keeps mounting to date. To face and tackle this unprecedented challenge, we at St. Gonsalo Garcia College have been constantly trying to provide an innovative learning experience for our learners. The college has been using the G – Suite from Google. It has been useful in providing an institutional Google account to every learner and the staff members (both teaching as well as non-teaching). Now our students can access several educational services with unlimited storage on their accounts. To add to this, we continuously try to enroll students for the Swayam courses, Coursera learning platform, N- List Digital library, Infosys springboards, etc. Students can approach the college office electronically on dedicated communication channels such as an email, e-Helpdesk, Google review, et al. With a renewed focus on college social media, we aim at expanded outreach. This saves time, money, and energy and also creates the productivity and efficiency of the college administration in providing services to the stakeholders. Further, we are adding a cloud-based Learning Management System to our students from this academic year.

Learning is a continuous and multidimensional process. It involves providing a required platform for every learner to excel in the field of his or her interest. Thus, it has been our constant endeavor to identify, acknowledge, and further develop the hidden talent of the millennial. As the National Education Policy (NEP-2020) is getting ready for its implementation, we need to understand four aspects of experiential learning, innovative and activity based pedagogy, multiple entry and exit options and establishing academic bank of credit. The college is eagerly awaiting the NEP- 2020 which will enhance the learning spectrum of our children. In order to make our youth not just job seekers but to be job creators, we have to provide them with quality knowledge and skills. We, thus strive to provide the best possible infrastructure and ambiance on the campus which will enable every learner to take their academic and skill enrichment to the new heights. Wishing you all a very happy, healthy, and fruitful new academic year 2022-2023.

Prin. Dr. Somnath Vibhute