VIJAYAWADA: For 11 years, students at SRR Government Degree College have struggled with a severe shortage of classrooms, compounded by the ongoing presence of the Social Welfare Residential Government Degree College (SWRGDC) for Girls, which remains on SRR’s premises instead of relocating to its intended site in Kanchikacherla.
Established in 2013, SWRGDC has yet to move 42 kilometres away from its designated location, resulting in overcrowded classrooms and insufficient hostel facilities for both institutions.
“The college requires nine classrooms to accommodate all three groups offered at SWRGDC, but we only have three. Nearly 175 girls are crammed into just three hostel rooms,” said Thelagatu Praneetha, Girls’ Convenor of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) at SRR College. She expressed frustration over the government’s failure to allocate the necessary funds for the past decade, despite substantial budgets announced annually for education.
The overcrowding has significantly affected the academic experience for SWRGDC students and added strain on SRR College.
SRR and CVR College Principal Dr K Bhagya Lakshmi highlighted the severe space constraints caused by the classroom shortage. “Our college operates two sessions and we offer 28-degree programmes and require 84 classrooms to accommodate students, but currently, we only have 25,” she explained to TNIE.
She emphasised that moving SWRGDC to Kanchikacherla, where land has already been allocated, would alleviate overcrowding at SRR College. “We have communicated our concerns to the officials, and higher authorities are actively pursuing the issue,” Dr Bhagya Lakshmi added.
Currently, SRR College has allocated eight rooms to SWRGDC, but two are designated for the principal and staff, leaving only six rooms for classes and hostel. “We are managing with what we have, but we still need at least three more rooms,” said SWRGDC Principal Dr Neeraja V.
Neeraja shared, “Ten acres of land have already been allocated in Kanchikacherla for the new campus. We urged Nandigama MLA Tangirala Sowmya to provide at least a temporary structure until the main building is constructed, and she assured us she would bring this to the attention of IT Minister N Lokesh.”
Commissioner of Collegiate Education, Pola Bhaskar told TNIE, “The land for the College is ready, but funds need to be sanctioned for the permanent building, which is under the government’s purview. We are also working to address the issue of dual colleges by identifying a temporary structure for SWRGDC.”