COIMBATORE: An allegation was raised that with all the work at the new building of Government Arts and Science College for Women at Puliyakulam completed three months ago, the new building is yet to come for students’ usage.
Official sources said the college administration is waiting for permission from officers of the Directorate of Collegiate Education (DCE) to open the new building at the college. Meanwhile, students requested officers to bring the new building for student’s use to avoid attending the evening classes till 6.30 pm.
A second-year student, P Pavithra (name changed) at the English department told TNIE that out of ten classrooms, at present, only eight classrooms are used by the students, one room is used by the staffs and another is used by principal.
“Due to classroom shortage, classes for three courses of B.Com, Mathematics and Computer Science are held in the morning shift from 8.45 am to 1.15 pm and English and Tamil classes are held in second shift from 1.30 pm to 6.30 pm,” she pointed out.
“Due to the second shift, we have to attend evening classes till 6.30 pm. Many girls are unable to go to the part-time job due to timing issue. If we go to part-time jobs in the evening, the salary would help us to meet our education and personal expenses,” she said.
Another student told TNIE that due to the second shift, many girls have to reach the college after 7:30 pm. She said that it takes them a long time to reach home due to traffic.
She said that due to the evening classes, she felt that the college is functioning look like an evening tutorial centre.
“Due to the lack of adequate toilet facilities, female students are currently unable to use them comfortably. The situation would be better if the new building is put into use,” she said.
A teaching faculty told TNIE that now building is ready condition and he said despite informing about building completion work, any communication letter about opening of new building was not received from DCE.
He said that the officers of DCE may be waiting to obtain permission from the Secretariat office to open the new building.
“If this new building starts functioning we can hold classes for all the students in one stretch without dividing them into two shifts. It would be useful for students,” he said.
This building was constructed worth Rs 13.75 crore and the construction work began in April 2023 and it was completed in June 2024. The building got an electricity connection in November. Since that, new building's inauguration is pending still now. In the new building, 22 classrooms, rooms for the head of the departments and the principal, mini seminar hall, a library, wellness centre etc were built.
Repeated attempts to reach the commissioner of DCE E Sundaravalli went in vain.