Berhampur: A name change and change in the management has failed to bring any improvement in the functioning of Khallikote Junior College here.
The college, which was renamed as Khallikote Junior Higher Secondary School, is one of the oldest educational institutions in the Silk City. According to a report, it was not only renamed but its management was transferred from the higher education department to school and mass education department.
The college, having student strength of 2500, continues to reel under lack of infrastructure and other problems. The students studying in 22 sections have only four classrooms without drinking water facilities and qualified teaching faculties.
This has sparked unrest among the students who closed down the main gate and staged a demonstration on the issue Thursday. They relented after senior lecturers and Town Police reached the spot and assured them of resolving their problems soon.
The school has a total of 22 sections in Plus Two first and second year with Arts and Science streams having 16 sections and the Commerce stream six sections. There are 512 seats in Arts and Science streams and 3,184 seats in Commerce stream which are filled up every year.
However, the school lacks adequate number of classrooms for such a large number of students. The school has only four classrooms in its own building which is severely affecting classes for all the 22 sections. The students also do not have adequate number of faculties, drinking water facilities, common room and toilets.
As a result, students of most of the sections have their classes in the college building of Khallikote Autonomous College. Accordingly, the time table of the school is prepared on the basis of the time table of the college.
However, that does not solve the problem as most of the time the classes had to be suspended due to lack of classrooms. The school also does not have a lab of its own for which it has to depend on the college.
The school is situated in front of the college with a road between them connecting the railway station and other important places in the city. Since the road always remains crowded, the authorities have undertaken construction of a foot over-bridge (FoB) between the two institutions.
However, its construction is yet to be completed and has been lying abandoned for the last two years for unknown reasons. The students have earlier demanded to open more classrooms and complete the construction of the FoB but their demands are yet to be fulfilled.
PNN
