Colleges in India should give its students an official email ID not just photo IDs

In this digital age, a mere college photo IDENTITY (ID) card of a student is not his/her digital identity. In India, a country which has engineering colleges for every street, we can count the number of colleges offering its students a digital identity, which is nothing but an official email ID. Barring IITs and some premier private colleges, none of the colleges in India offers its students an official email ID.

The power of an official college email ID for students is significant. There is a huge push for internships from the government these days, but hardly a very few get the ones they deserve. Many times it was because of the  communication channel. As an employer, I would prefer looking at an email application for internship, that has come from [email protected], rather than [email protected] or [email protected]. This becomes even more critical when students apply for studies abroad. Many research proposals might have left unnoticed by professors just because it was not from an official email ID and the same happens even for job applications.

These official email IDs comes at a price, but it is very much worth investing and it is high time that colleges start realising it. Because the success and reach of colleges solely depends on the success and reach of its students. They are the ambassadors of their college. Universities like Ashoka are a standing proof for the same, and they even provide visiting cards for its students, treating them with such a high dignity. Yes, official email IDs are not just IDs. It is the respect and dignity which a college lays on its students and it has multiple positive mirror effects.

Not just this, official email ID also solves the problem of communication within intra and inter-colleges. Any event like a guest lecture, symposium and tech fest sees a humongous amount of money being spent on banners and brochures, even for a simple intra college event, and add few more tonnes of A3 brochures, A3 envelopes and cover letters for inter-college events. These are creating an adverse impact on ecology with lots of papers being wasted and finally these brochures are more commonly seen pinned on large trees rather than notice boards.

In this digital age, college development funds focussed on mere physical infrastructure is not enough, and a significant amount should be spent on digital infrastructure too. For a student, his/her digital identity as a student is their official college email ID.

In India, with nearly half of the population under the age of 25, Digital India  mainly lies on digitally empowered student community and it starts with a digital student ID.

Claim your digital ID. Claim your respect.

If you are an alumna/alumnus of a college, please do push for the official email ID for the current students. India’s and almost every country’s strength solely lies on empowering its students. Let's strive for it.

#digitalindia #madiee #studentempowerment #digitalid