Jhajjar, January 24
The Government College, Jhajjar, popularly known as Nehru College, has been crying for the government attention. The reason? The staff and the students have been facing hardships for ages; for want of basic facilities. The college is housed in a dilapidated building. To cap it, shortage of staff and lack of proper conveyance facilities for the students are affecting the academic environment. Nonetheless, the college has an admirable record in studies and extra-curricular activities. It is also known for its peaceful atmosphere on the campus.
The cornerstone of the college, situated on the Delhi Road around 4 km from the town, was laid by the late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on December 7, 1958. The then AICC president, Mrs Indira Gandhi, inaugurated the college the next year.
Prof Ravi Kiran Madan, who is related to the college since the student life, said that the college was founded by the people of the area with the inspiration of Mr Sukh Dev Prasad, who was the SDM here at that time.
However, the college is passing through hard times now. Mr D.V. Dagar, principal of the college, said that the first and foremost requirement of the college is the fulfilment of the vacant posts of teachers.
He informed that at least 18 posts of lecturers have been lying vacant for the last couple of years.
“The post of DPE has been lying vacant for the last two years and our students who are interested in sports have to do without a regular DPE,” said Mr Dagar.
He said that their sportspersons and teams were doing well but in the absence of a specialised coach, they cannot do much. The studies of the subjects, being affected due to the staff shortage, are English, geography, military science, chemistry and botany.
The college building is in disrepair. Most of the rooms need immediate repair as the roofs are unsafe and the plaster on the walls has been peeling off. The roofs of room numbers 8, 9,10, 11 have become quite weak.
“The roof of the room number 15, a seminar hall, was felled by the Public Works Department four years ago,” said the principal, as it was posing a threat to the lives of the students.
He resented that the hall had been lying in a dilapidated condition since then and the fixed in-house furniture of the hall, including the desks, tables and windows, are also in a state of disrepair.
Moreover, the work on the new library building stopped after a while due to lack of funds. Though the University Grants Commission and the Haryana government provided a sum of Rs 8.48 lakh in 1998, the construction was stopped midway and the PWD prepared a revised estimate of Rs 31.60 lakh which had not been sanctioned by the government even after four year. Now the fate of the half-constructed building of the library hangs in the balance. The college authorities’ litany of complaints against the PWD does not end here. The college has not been whitewashed for ages despite repeated requests. The PWD seems to have simply turned a blind eye to the demands.
However, the principal said that the Deputy Commissioner has inspected the damaged site with the PWD executive engineer recently. He lauded the efforts of the DC, Mr Mohinder Kumar, in providing facilities to the college.
The major problem being faced by the students is that of conveyance. As the college is situated well four km from the bus stand, they have to travel in the buses bound for Bahadurgarh and Delhi, to and fro the college. But due to the not-so-friendly attitude of the roadways drivers, clashes often take place between roadways staff and students.
Mr Dagar said that the college authorities have taken strict steps on the discipline front.
He informed that the names of around 150 students were struck off this year on the charges of remaining absent from the classes, although they were readmitted after the written assurance by their parents. He informed that special anti-copying squads were also set up during the house and annual examinations.
The pass percentage of the students in all the classes was above 90 in the last session. Many students also made their mark in cultural and sports activities in inter-college, zonal, inter-university and state level competitions.
However, the state government’s decision to withdraw the MA courses from the college has angered the students and the people of the town as the students, especially the woman students, face difficulties in pursuing higher studies in other cities.
In fact, Jhajjar is the only district which has not got postgraduate study centre on regular basis.
The college authorities said that the MA courses in Hindi and English were running successfully for some years and all the books required for the courses were brought to the library.
The National Assessment and Accreditation Committee team also visited the college recently and admired the academic atmosphere but expressed concern over the poor conditions of the rooms and the overhead hanging electric wires.
