If you pass by Presidency College and take a close look at its lawns, you would notice, on most days, plastic cups, papers, broken test tubes, rotting food packets and an assortment of rubbish. And the college is not unique in presenting this sight.
Dirty lawns, stinking toilets and unclean classrooms have become a prominent feature of city colleges and the reason for this lack of maintenance is the same everywhere. College officials are unanimous in blaming the situation on the lack of appointment of class-IV workers that include cleaners, sweepers, gardeners, helpers, conservancy workers, peons, library and laboratory assistants, in the last fifteen years.
The cleaning of lawns in most colleges takes place only when there are important visits, say staff members. The government has not appointed conservancy workers, and the colleges have a tough time hiring help, says a lecturer at Queen Mary’s College. “No one wants to clean toilets in colleges for Rs. 2,500. They can definitely earn much more as domestic workers,” she says.
In co-educational institutions, the shortage of female sanitary workers leads to poor maintenance of women’s toilets.
“Sometimes, the students do not know much about hygiene and we cannot impose stricter rules or penalise them,” says a lecturer at Bharti Women’s College.
Teaching in poorly-maintained classrooms amidst the pervasive stench from unclean toilets is difficult but they are getting used to it, says a lecturer at Presidency College. “We have written to the government several times but have been asked to outsource the work,” she says. Most government colleges outsource the cleaning work and route money from the PTA fund.
Data with the Tamil Nadu Association of Non-Teaching Staff of Aided Colleges reveals there are at least 1,738 vacancies for class-IV workers in nearly 164 colleges across the State.
The Pachaiyappa Trust, for instance, say sources, has not filled up 116 vacancies for cleaners, sweepers and helpers, in five of its colleges, in the past ten years.
“Though the management tries to employ contract workers by offering extra remuneration, it is very difficult to retain them unless the government standardises their work and salaries,” say a non-teaching staff member of Kandaswamy Naidu College.
There are also many vacancies for the post of museum keepers (helpers in zoology labs).
“In the absence of government recruiment, we are forced to hire people with minimum qualifications. This often leads to theft or damage of equipment, says,” says G. Mohan, a helper from Thiagarajar College.
Also, colleges often prefer to spend money on hiring sanitary workers rather than employing assistant librarians and laboratory technicians. “Those who work in schools can hope to educate themselves and get promoted as teachers after many years but there is no incentive like that in colleges,” says a lab assistant at Women’s Christian College.
Members of the Tamil Nadu Association of Non-Teaching Staff of Aided Colleges point out that due to these unfilled vacancies, every staff has to do the work of at least four others. “Last year, the government promised that it would fill up the vacancies, but only the clerical positions have been filled so far,” says P. Kanakarajan, secretary of the Association.
Keywords: conservancy workers, Presidency College
I don't know whether this historic institution is included in the heritage buildings list, if not yet then the present government has duty to include this historic building in the list. The discipline of hygiene should start from home and also schools should take lead in inculcating these values. The government spends lot of money in beautifying the beach and should also equally allocate enough funds to maintain these historic buildings located between University Building to IG office along the beach road.
the last but one paragraph of this report is irrelevant. The womens Christian College lab attender states that colleges prefer to hire sanitary workers than to employ qualitfied lab attenders. What has this got to do with the issue here: lack of sanitary workers in colleges??
All the cities in India are filthy
Its a true fact.
first thing we need to do is train our students on basic hygiene and
civic sense. i am from USA. we do not throw even chewing gum wrappers
on the ground. we carry it in our pockets till we find a trash can.
why cant we indians learn some of that cleanliness?
it is disgusting to see guys unzipping when they see a wall to
urinate right in the middle of a street.where is the shame?
India is the dirtiest country in the world. India is an embarrassment.
If we bothered to enforce our laws, India could redeem itself, but as with everything else in
India, there is only talk and wishful thinking. India will thrive under a strong military
dictatorship that executes people who flout the laws. We ought to try this option, but India's
military is as corrupt and incompetent as its civil leadership.
We used to attend classes in the IDE buildings for the MBA sessions.. The toilets are just pathetic and the stinking will be felt at the classes..
I also worked in the IAF for a few years across the country..the toilets were even pathetic at all places for the soliders.. The civilian staff supposed to do the maintenance these do not turn up to clean, so it often left to the soldiers to do it..
We are still in stone age in cleanliness..
very well said prof. John, Making politics our of everything is non-sense and I doubt that government filling all the post is going to help since we know how things operate in govt enterprises.
Why did the trash get there? because the so called pillars of tomorrow (of course add some visitors) strew them around! What a futuristic citizens our colleges make. If we should have a conservancy worker running behind every irresponsible citizen we may need another 1 billion people in India (if we expect 100% efficiency from them).
If I was there I would form a team myself, divide the job, make a saturday and clean the area around my department - I am not kidding, I did that in my 9th and 10th grade class room decades back. Leaders step up and do, not crib around and wait. Can I see some Leaders in these colleges please?
It is strange that in the sulking economy scenario, the Govt. is not interested in providing the much needed employment. Second, the current "mode" of recruitment may lead to serious negligence of duty by the employed as in the case of many Govt. offices where cleanliness is not even close. So, obviously instead of allotting some vacancies to some castes/communities the Govt. should make it open for all communities with the encouragement to/possibility of moving up in the ladder. If the Govt. is serious in eradicating casteism and poverty, of course. Finally, responsibility for cleanliness should also be inculcated into the students. I'm now in France, in my lab people wash their own plates and ALWAYS drop their wastes into dustbins, equipped with garbage bags. Even if someone misses, the other cleans it without waiting for the cleaner to clean it the next day - they don't ask the students or subordinates to that. They lead them by example. In India?
Absolutely. What India needs is more govt. Every aspect of Indian life now needs
govt. permission. The average Indian is devoid of any individual initiative. So sad
Why are we blaming the government for this? I think this has been
brought upon ourselves by both the students and the teachers. In the
picture accompanying the article, is this the place to throw garbage?
Can't teachers lead the way in teaching the students how to dispose
garbage. And do student's don't know this basic discipline? What is
then the use of higher studies? While this could be a conservancy
issue, the basic discipline should be brought upon by both the
teachers and the students. If not, despite all the conservancy
position being filled in, we will still have this situation. You mess
up, you clean up should be the rule. Unfortunately we lack this in all
walks of life.
why go to a vast campus and find rubbish at a corner? Please visit all the schools in the city and report on the pitiable condition. I am talking about public schools not govt aided.
Two old fans in a class of an average 50 students, no clean drinking water, poor sanitary conditions, pity the girls who are in their teens. It is a common sight to see teenage schools, throwing their bags around and rushing to toilet to ease themselves, when they return from school.These schools collect hefty fees for each term but do little for the welfare of students.
Not many parents have the courage to question the school authorities on this, for the fear of their wards being sent out of school.Directorate of school Education does little, unlike the sixties and seventies, when there used to be regular inspection from their department.There is no fear for any one.
No wonder the britishers ruled India . Indians are inferior in all aspects.
I asked someone once, why they spat their pan-masala spit on the white walls of the hostel where they/we lived. He said "It is our culture and we have to keep it alive". I rested my case. No arguing with idiots. We do not have civic sense built in us. We don't encourage it in our children, in fact we encourage them to through stuff through car windows on to the road, without caring a hoot for the fellow road-users. We throw rubbish just outside of our compound wall. We will be in rubbish, that is our culture like my good old friend told me.
In many Minority Colleges which are near Medavakkam, Sholinganallur & Kelambakkam its very worst conditions. No proper water supply inside gents and ladies toilets. Pipes are broken. There is no agency to check such things. No hygienic water to drink in colleges. Surrounding area of college is not clean its very dirty. Without any proper approval college buildings had been constructed. Many colleges NAAC accreditation had been expired. Not many teachers are there to students. Teachers are pressurized to work for more hours. Many unapproved teachers work in many Minority Colleges. Salaries are paid very less to teaching and nonteaching staffs. Without permanent affiliation many colleges run the college. Very strict action has to be taken for those colleges.
Corporation of chennai, must come heavily on all college management for mainteaance of their general rooms including toilets and bathroom with proper workload,as there are paid servants for this purpose as well.and govt/corporation must personally ensure that all public buildings including colleges and schools are kept clean free
without fail,in the interest of hygenine to avoid spreading any
type of disease.
unhygienic condition not only in college but also in the whole city.
I presume it is a matter of class and not really lack of conservancy
workers.Twenty years back the complexion of the student population
was different and there was National Service Corps to assist in
cleaning up the campus.Today with the total upliftment programme the
students are probably children of class so they leave it to
politicians to do national service.What a great change.The Chennai
created by The Great Muthalvar has to outsource cleaning to the rest
of India.Playing God doesnt mean anything to do with cleanliness.He
arises like a sphinx from the dustbin!
I am extremely sad about the hygiene not just in the colleges but overall in TamilNadu. I recently visited Bangalore, Trissur and Chennai. Chennai is sadly a big dump and people have zero civic sense. Kerala and Bangalore were so much cleaner. TN Government has no shame.
Unfortunately this state of dirty and unkempt campus is not confined to colleges. The whole of Chennai is no better. Filth, rubbish, excreatment both human and animal, spit and dirt are everywhere. People must be taught to keep the place clean starting with their home surroundings. This should start in schools. Teach the young and they will teach their parents. Hygiene must be a subject in schools. The government and the those running Chennai should take charge. This programme should be extented to the whole of TN.
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