CHENNAI: The grievous injuries sustained by a visually challenged student, who was also hearing and speaking impaired, of the Presidency college on Tuesday night could have been avoided had the college authorities followed procedures to get funds of Rs 4 crore under a Central government scheme, to improve infrastructure, it is pointed out.
Documents with Express show that the University Grants Commission (UGC) froze grants to the college as the institution was functioning without an accreditation from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) for the past seven years. This was admitted by the college Principal T Pramananda Perumal.
Colleges applying for grant for infrastructure under Rashtriya Uchhatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), the Central scheme, should have NAAC stamp.
The college has been gasping for funds. The dilapidated 117-year-old Victoria Hostel, where the student V Balu injured himself, is a direct result of fund shortage. The college did not submit necessary documents on time to avail itself of NAAC accreditation, sources said.
Located right behind the college premises, Victoria Hostel is nothing more than a few dilapidated hostel rooms, broken balconies, leaky pipelines and worn-out toilets. The already stressed building accommodates 300 students, double its capacity, including 45 visually impaired students.
After paying Rs 16,000 as annual hostel fees, students bathe in an open area in this hostel.
A final year history student, requesting anonymity, said that in the absence of drinking water facilities in the hostel, they were forced to buy packaged water cans from nearby retail stores.
The students had repeatedly protested demanding basic facilities, including better food. The restoration was due last year. However, nothing has changed till date. Even the trees which fell over the wall during cyclone ‘Vardah’ were yet to be cleared.
A Self-Study Programme taken up by the college authorities to fasten the NAAC approval process has also recorded very little progress, said government sources. Perumal refused to comment on the lack of facilities.
The college clearly has a tough road ahead as RUSA has revised the guidelines. Now, only colleges with ‘B’ grade or above (2-4 grade points) will be eligible for infrastructure grants from this year.
Thirty other government colleges in the State have also missed out in utilising RUSA funds as they don’t have NAAC stamp, a senior official of Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education said.
“All the 36 colleges which received this grant are effectively utilising it and 14 more colleges are likely to join this list,” the official added. Tamil Nadu agreed to join this centrally sponsored scheme launched in 2013 under which all State-funded colleges and universities are eligible to get infrastructure grant.