Comilla Victoria Govt College beset with manifold problems
Our Correspondent
Comilla: Academic activities at Comilla Victoria Government College are to be continued amidst multifarious problems making it difficult for the institution to hold on to its name as a special seat of learning in the region, reports UNB. The problems the 117-year-old institution is now grappling with mainly include teacher shortage, accommodation crisis, inadequate classrooms and unavailability of transport. Of the total 28,000 students of the college, only 1,300 have residential facilities; though the higher secondary students get none. Teachers have to face troubles in taking classes as the HSC and degree sections are housed in two distant academic buildings. The institution has five residential halls, two of which have been closed as they are not fit for living while the rest three are also in a decrepit state.
Founded by Zamindar Rai Bahadur Ananda Chandra Roy, the college initiated its journey on September 24, 1899. The institution started its academic activities initially with high school education with 107 students and seven teachers.
Later honours courses were introduced in 1918 and BSC and B.com degrees in 1942 and 1956. Night course was started in 1958. The college was divided into two different segmentshigh school and degreein 1962. Five departments were opened in 1971 and the Bangla department in 1973. The college buildings housing the honours and high school sections stand on 29 acres of land. There are now 21 honours and 19 masters courses in operation at the college having total 27,418 students and 165 teachers. The accommodation crisis is acute mainly because only two halls are for the use of the degree level students. Kabi Nazrul Islam Hall is for male students with 635 seats and Nabab Faizunnesa Hall for female students with 400 seats.
The hall buildings which lie in a shabby state have not seen any repair work for long. Rainwater sips through their ceilings and plasters have fallen apart from their walls. The three buildings of Suhrawardy and Rabindranath halls for high school students in Tomchom Bridge area are in a ramshackle state and hardly suitable for use. For the residential crisis, the students have to live in different rented houses and messes where they have to undergo different kinds of unwanted sufferings.
The students also face severe transport problems as the lone bus has been out of service due to defects. The residential students of Kabi Nazrul Hall said the rooms of the hostel are damp and cracks have developed in several places of the building.
The bathrooms and toilets which are in a vulnerable condition are also not in sufficient number, compared to the number of students. Residents of Faizunnesa Hall alleged that attacks of mosquitoes and flies are also a big menace for them.
The residential students also demanded that the abandoned three buildings of the hostel be urgently repaired considering their sufferings. The activities of Sangskritik o Samajik Charcha BACC (Sena), BNCC (Biman), Red Crescent, Debating Parishad, Victoria College Theatre and Rover Scouts are not so vigorous as before. Two playgrounds of the college are also not suitable for use for want of proper care. The students also have to face waterlogging problem during monsoon. Were trying to improve the infrastructures of the college. Weve already started to construct a residential hall for female students of Dharmapur degree section. An initiative has also been taken to reconstruct the abandoned buildings of the new hostel, said Abdur Rashid, principal of the college.
