Kendrapara: The Government Junior Science College at Ayeba, 10 km from district headquarters, has been facing problems due to the shortage of teaching and non-teaching staff and infrastructure.
The lone government college in the district is a picture of neglect due to the lack of interest shown by the government in solving the college’s problems.
Sources said when Bhagabat Prasad Mohanty was the higher education minister he took keen interest in establishing the Government Junior Science College at Ayeba in his home district to provide an opportunity to rural students to study science for Plus Two.
In 1995, the government had opened four science colleges, including the Government Junior Science College at Ayeba. The Government Science College was established in 1999. The college building’s construction was completed in 1999, but it remained unused for around a decade.
In 2012, Mohanty brought this to the notice of the higher education department and urged it to start the college. The government started the college in the 2012 academic session.
Around 128 students got admission in Plus Two Science first batch. The government had appointed Dhiren Dalai as the Principal of the Government Junior College and also lecturers in Mathematics, English and Odia. Nine others were engaged at the college as guest lecturers. The government later appointed five non-teaching staffers at the college.
Now, around 300 students are studying for Plus Two science. But due to shortage of lecturers classroom teaching is in bad shape. The college also faces infrastructure problems and shortage of non-teaching staff.
The college was set up on three acres, but it lacks a boys’ hostel, a girls’ hostel, a cycle stand and lecturers’ quarters. It is also facing a shortage of classrooms and laboratories. As the college does not have boundary walls it has become a safe haven for anti-socials.
This year, only 130 students got admission in Plus Two science. In 2018-19, 222 out of the 280 students passed Plus Two Science from the college, said Principal Dhiren Dalai.
The public had requested the government to provide infrastructure and to hire more lecturers and non-teaching staff for the college in vain.
I had requested the government to provide Plus Three Science at the college as our Plus Two students face a lot of problems in getting admission in other colleges, said Principal Dalai.
PNN
