Academic activities at Carmichael College in Rangpur are being seriously hampered because of teacher shortage, academic and hostel accommodation crises,
transport problem and dearth of books in the library.
Against the total 187 posts at the college, there are only 155 teachers conducting classes of over 25,000 students at the honours, Masters and Degree (pass course) and HSC levels of the college.
The vice-principal, Professor Mahafuza Anowar, said ‘At least 14 teachers are required for each honours subjects. We need at least 200 teachers in the college to run the academic activities smoothly.’
There are 18 subjects in the college. Of them, honours-Masters courses are running in 17 departments. ‘More subjects like computer science and engineering, geography and statistics are needed to be introduced in the college to meet the increasing demand of the admission-seekers,’ she added.
The college needs at least 8 academic buildings to cope with the existing number of students
while there were only five facilities. The number of furniture is also
needed to be increased, she said.
There were four male student dormitories and three women students’ hostels on the campus which housed only 1900 students. Most of the students reside at rented houses in the city at a high cost. The female students were the worst sufferers as they often felt insecurity residing outside the campus.
Iqbal Hossain, a first year honours student of English department told New Age that he lived in a boarding house in the town, which is very
expensive. ‘It will be easier and cost effective for me if I could manage a hostel seat on the campus,’ he added.
There are insufficient books in the library which fail to meet demands of the growing number of students, the vice-principal said.
The college re-introduced HSC course in 2011-2012 academic sessions after one decade to cope with the pressure of higher secondary students in the district. Some 900 students got admission in three groups — humanities, science and business studies.
An assistant professor, preferred to be unnamed, told New Age that the HSC classes have put an extra pressure on the teachers as most of the teachers had to remain busy with honours and Masters courses.
The three buses of the college transport pool cannot meet the demand of the huge students residing outside the campus.
Very often, any of the vehicles remains off the road for mechanical glitch due to their rundown condition.
Rumana Sultana, a third year honours student of political science department, said that she came to college from Hajirhat of the town, 12 kilometers away from the campus. But college transport is not available on the route. She needs Tk 80 rickshaw fare to attend college everyday which is unbearable for her family regularly. So, she attends classes three days a week.
Asked about the problems, the Carmichael College principal, Professor Shah Mohammad Moksed Ali, said the college authorities has been always aware of the problems and trying to solve them pushing the higher authorities from time to time.
‘Construction work of a new five-storied academic-cum-examination building was going on. We have been trying to procure three more buses immediately to solve the transport problem of the students,’ he said.
-With New Age input
