Friday, Jan 29, 2010
The college is functioning temporarily on the premises of a school

• It has about 1,500 students, including 600 students enrolled in the current academic year
• The college is forced to function in two shifts owing to space constraint

Mettur: Inordinate delay in constructing permanent buildings for Salem Periyar University's constituent college in Mettur has left about 1,500 students in the lurch.

The college, started in 2006, is functioning temporarily on the premises of the Government Higher Secondary School at Mettur and Thukkanampatti Municipal Primary School without facilities which are mandatory for a higher educational institution. UG programmes
Initially, 281 students were admitted in three undergraduate programmes.

Now, the college offers 10 undergraduate courses and a postgraduate programme.

It has about 1,500 students, including 600 students who were enrolled in the current academic year.

The college is forced to function in two shifts owing to space constraint. It lacks full-fledged classrooms, laboratories, learning aids and equipment.

Students are forced to sit in small classrooms which do not have facilities.

"The first batch of students from the college graduated this year and the university is yet to take a serious look into the issue of lack of permanent buildings," teachers lament.

The university had allotted funds two years ago but the Public Works Department is causing inordinate delay in the construction of buildings.

"We are undergoing untold suffering. The primary school does not even have adequate basic amenities," students complain.

emonstrations staged
Students staged demonstrations and went on strike on a few occasions but they were futile. Vice-Chancellor M. Thangaraju said construction of the ground floor of arts and science blocks was expected to be completed by March this year.