COVID-19 Response Updates

The Silicon faculty, staff and students have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic situation with a steadfast, agile and focused approach.

Siliconites were alerted ahead of the lockdown about the COVID-19 outbreak. All the activities and events on campus were cancelled from 25th March 2020 onwards. The on-campus student residents were advised to leave for home. Students who chose to stay back on campus, did so in accordance with COVID-19 protocols..

The Counselling Cell of the institute provided online services to students and faculty.

Academic Initiatives Other Initiatives Community Welfare Outreach Programs

All academic activities were shifted to digital mode. Surveys were conducted at regular intervals to understand the well-being of Silicon faculty, staff and students. Counseling services were provided online wherever needed. Silicon faculty participated in various outreach programs to address the psychological needs of students, teachers and their families across the country.

Academic Initiatives

Silicon quickly transitioned all the academic activities into digital mode while ensuring that the teaching delivery process was least affected. Some of the important activities include:

  • In-person classes replaced with online mode of instruction
  • Labs conducted.in virtual mode
  • Assessments conducted in online mode
  • Course artefacts shared through online media
  • Library online catalogue link provided to students/faculty
  • Coursera licenses provided to faculty/students for self-development
  • Faculty Development Programs (FDPs), Technical workshops conducted in online mode
  • Summer internship, placement/practice school drives conducted in virtual mode

Research Publications

Ajaya K. Tripathy, Ambarish G. Mohapatra, Saraju P. Mohanty, Elias Kougianos, Amit M. Joshi, and Gautam Das

, "EasyBand: A Wearable for Safety-Aware Mobility During Pandemic Outbreak", IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine, IEEE, Vol. 9, No. 5, pp. 57-61, 0901,

DOI: 10.1109/MCE.2020.2992034

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Arya, Lambodar Jena, Rajanikanta Mohanty, and Ramakrushna Swain

, "Role of Deep Learning in Screening and Tracking of COVID-19", in Proceedings of ICAC 2020, Springer, pp. 677-687, 0501.

Bhagyalaxmi Jena

, "Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic", in Title: Challenges and Opportunities of COVID-19 IN INDIA, Kunal Books, Chapter. 28, pp. 246-257, 0201.

Anita Mohanty and Subrat Kumar Mohanty

, "Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education", in Title: COVID-19 and Education, Kunal Books, Chapter. 17, pp. 165-173, 0801.

Biswamohan Jena, Loveleen Gaur, Biswaranjan Acharya, Bhagyalaxmi Jena, Manas Ranjan Pradhan, Mohit Vij, Anupama Baral, and Aurobinda Das

, "A Mobile Sanitizer Dispensing Unit" Application No. 202011044163, 1023.

A fund named as Silicon Support Fund has been created to provide financial assistance to the students who have lost the earning member of their family. An independent committee is looking after the fund raising and fund disbursement.

Other Initiatives

Silicon has functioned proactively accommodating various measures to function smoothly during these difficult times.

  • Campus residents advised to follow COVID guidelines strictly
  • Regular upkeep and sanitization of the entire campus taken care
  • Limited dining facilities was made available
  • 24*7 ambulance service provided for members of the Silicon family
  • Surveys conducted to monitor the well-being of the Silicon faculty, staff and students
  • Online counseling services provided by the in-house Counseling Cell

Community Welfare Activities

Silicon collaborated with Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the drive-in vaccination of the 45 plus age group. Vaccination drives were conducted from 10 June to 31 July 2021. A special vaccination drive was also organized for our students, staff and their family members with BMC’s approval on 27 June 2021. A total of 19018 people were vaccinated (1st/2nd dose) over a span of 45 days at our vaccination centre, at an average of about 423 per day.

  • Silicon Staff Welfare contributed INR 3 lakhs to PM CARES Fund
  • PPE kits and N-95 masks donated to Central and State relief funds
  • Grocery items handed over to Adruta Children’s Home, a rehabilitation center for children in need of care and protection
  • Grocery items handed over to Open Learning System (OLS), a rehabilitation center for specially-abled children.

1. Drive-in Vaccination Centre

2. Vaccination Drive

3. Vaccination Drive

4. Vaccination Drive

1. Drive-in Vaccination Centre

2. Vaccination Drive

3. Vaccination Drive

4. Vaccination Drive

Outreach Programs

The Silicon faculty participated in various outreach programs by Ministry of Education (MoE), Government of India (GoI) like Paricharcha and Kishore Manch. The faculty participated in state level television programs to create awareness and advocacy about COVID-19. Counselling services were provided to people within and outside the state of Odisha. Video podcasts were released.

Programs Conducted

Paricharcha - Prevention of substance abuse among adolescents in school, 18 Feb 2022

This live Interaction on PMeVIDYA discussed about how to prevent substance abuse among adolescents in school and what psycho social support can be provided to the students.

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Paricharcha – Care and Compassion: Sign of Strength , 28 May 2021

This session aimed to create awareness about mental health and well-being concerns and ways of dealing/coping with them.

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Kishore Manch - Live Interaction on ‘SAHYOG’ : Emotional Well Being, 1 December, 2020

This session focused on providing guidance for promoting mental well-being among students.

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Kishore Manch - Live Interaction on ‘SAHYOG’ : Bounce Back from Adversity, 20 July, 2020

This live interactive session was on how to bounce back from adversity.

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How to get rid of mental stress during COVID-19 lockdown, DTV Odia, 28 April 2020

This television program in D-TV Odia channel, one of Odisha’s leading 24x7 infotainment channel viz., ‘Lockdown samayare maanasika chinta ru mukti paaibe kipari’ seeked to suggest ways to get rid of mental stress during lockdown.

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Salute to Corona Warriors, Prameya News7, 13 April 2020

This television program in Prameya News7, a leading Odia News channel of Odisha, India viz., ‘Corona Yodhanku salute (Salute to Corona Warriors)’ raised a salute to the efforts made by the Corona warriors.

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Counseling Services

During the initial period of lockdown viz., 25 March – 12 June 2020, people within and outside Odisha were provided with counseling services as needed by Dr. Saswati Jena, in-house Counselling Psychologist, SiliconTech, Bhubaneswar. Over 100 people benefitted from these services.

Counseling services were also provided under the platform ‘Voices O’ Counselling’ by Dr. Saswati Jena along with Dr. Sareeta Behera, Post-Doctoral Fellow, NISER, Bhubaneswar, to support individuals facing mental health issues due to the COVID-19.

  • An online capacity building program, ‘Beparwah Smiles’, was conducted under this platform to meet the therapeutic and psycho-educational requirements of children with special needs. 3300 participants benefited from this program, with about 75 participants attending every day. This program was conducted for 44 days from 14 April – 12 June 2020.
  • A free online International Conference ‘Nivritti: Humanity Beyond Boundaries for an Inclusive and Just World’ was hosted by Voices O’ Counselling and We4You (a voluntary organization working for the upliftment of persons with disabilities) on 12 June, 2020. The objective of the conference was to promote inclusiveness across the world. 92 participants attended this conference.
  • A National level webinar ‘Psychosocial Recuperation in Substance Use Disorders: Role of Psychologists and Caregivers’ was conducted by Voices O’ Counselling and New Life International on 10 May 2020. 28 participants attended this webinar.

VIDEO PODCASTS

Psychological well-being practices, 28 March 2020

This video podcast discusses the importance of maintaining psychological resilience and balance in crisis situations.

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Dealing with anxiety, 12 April 2020

This video podcast discusses psychological wellness during lockdown.

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Autism Spectrum Disorder Part-I, 3 April 2020

This video podcast highlights the psychosocial approach to Autism Spectrum Disorder.

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Autism Spectrum Disorder Part-II, 3 April 2020

This video podcast discusses support groups for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

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Autism Spectrum Disorder Part-III, 3 April 2020

This video podcast explores the psychosocial and human rights aspects of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

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Know more about Silicon’s activities in the first phase of COVID-19 lockdown during March - May 2020.

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