When you become the Class Representative
Every class has got its own CR (Class Representative); be it a junior college, an engineering college, a management college or a medical college. But, things start changing once you become the CR. Here’s why:
1. Your name ceases to be your identity:
Before being appointed as the CR, your name is universally accepted as your identity and everybody calls you by your name; could be your first name or your last name. But things become different once you become the CR. You are recognized in your class as ‘The CR.’ Nobody in your class calls you by your name. Every student calls you ‘CR.’
2. You become the official Customer Care:
When you come across a problem with any product or service, what do you do? You call the customer care, right?
That’s what students do when they face a problem. They call their official customer care- CR straightaway. As a CR, you are supposed to provide solutions to their problems, clear their doubts and answer all their questions effectively.
3. You become the bridge between teacher and the students:
You are contacted by the teacher whenever important information has to be relayed to the students. It’s your responsibility to update each and every student with this information. Social media plays a crucial role for you. You are supposed to broadcast a message in your class’ WhatsApp group, contact the students who are not on WhatsApp through Facebook and contact the students who are not on Facebook through text messages.
4. You are taken for granted:
You need to keep calm under all circumstances. You may have people criticizing you for arranging lectures, people jeering at you for not letting them put proxies on the attendance sheet, people calling late at night just to ask ‘which lecture is there tomorrow’ and so on. However, you need to understand that it’s all part of the job. You need to play ‘Captain Cool’ all the time.
5. You develop a rapport with the teachers:
You are the point of contact for the teachers to reach the students. It’s your responsibility to assist teachers in whatever way you can. So, you eventually develop a rapport with the teachers which seems wonderful.
6. You cannot bunk the class:
CRs usually attend all the lectures although it’s not compulsory. As a CR, you feel kind of responsible for your class. You are expected to uphold virtue and be an example. If a CR bunks, then what can a teacher expect from other students. You tend to be one of the most prominent students of the class. The first thing most of the teachers do after entering the class is scan for your ‘eager to help’ face and smile at you. And so, teachers are more likely to notice your absence in the class and enquire concernedly about it.
7. You become the protector of the defaulters:
People who lack the attendance criteria keep pestering you to persuade the teacher and save them. Sentences like- “We have elected you,” “You are our representative,” “It’s your duty to represent us” are common.
8. You are expected to organize common-offs:
In case you are wondering what common-off is, it is nothing but ‘Mass-bunk.’ If holidays are not declared on festivals like Raksha Bandhan, Ganesh Chaturthi, etc or if all the students are too exhausted to attend a lecture, a CR has to organize ‘Mass-bunk’ after mutual consent. As a CR, it becomes your duty to inform the teacher beforehand and compensate the lectures accordingly.
9. You need to take initiatives:
You are expected to take initiatives. This includes organizing events like IVs (Industrial Visits) during semesters and farewell parties at the end of your term.