One of the oldest higher education institutes in the country, Presidency College, is set to undergo a significant makeover soon.
The proposal of the college to modernise its science department has been approved by the Central government. The department of science and technology has sanctioned over Rs. 96 lakh for refurbishment of the departments of mathematics, physics, chemistry and biological sciences.
“There will be a centralised laboratory facility for all students,” said Roop Singh, head of chemistry department, and also coordinator of the Funds for Infrastructure Development in Science and Technology project, initiated by the college officials.
The focus will be on building an instrumentation laboratory and equipping laboratories with sophisticated equipment, he said.
Presidency College was established in 1840. Nobel laureates Dr. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar and C.V. Raman studied here.
A look around the college reveals many of its laboratories could do with more maintenance. “The botany lab here has the best equipment. Having a centralised facility to distribute funds will help to channelise funds uniformly across departments,” a professor said.
There are also attempts to register the college building as a heritage structure. “Heeding the proposal made by the government, we have already instituted a committee to look into the issue,” said R. Sabanayagam, principal of the college.
The age-old institution can do much better with attention reserved for heritage buildings, said students and professors of the college.
“The toilets and many of the classrooms are in a dilapidated condition. We have been asking the Public Works Department and the electricity board to look into the problems here for months now but there has been no action,” a professor said.
Keywords: Presidency College, Central government, science grant
I am glad to see that TOILETS got a mention in this story.
Yes... if they could fix the toilets in that college, especially for the women students,
that would be a great improvement. And then fix all the falling masonry and broken
window panes.
They ought to get to these as a greater priority before the laboratory facilities.
This college is one of the oldest arts colleges in the country, No doubt it could boast of many renowned alumni, including famous administrators and Nobel laureates. Many families around chennai city could claim about how they proud they are having been old students of very many higher studies.My eldest brother did his Physics hons 75 yrs ago.My two sisters passed out doing Tamil Hons with distinction 60 yrs ago.I took my post graduate M.A in Physics 53 yrs ago.My sister did B.SC.Chemistry 55 yrs ago.And my another sister took her M.Sc and completed her doctorate in chemistry 50 yrs ago.Like family doctor we could happy to confirm it is our family college.But none of us felt that it was not equipped with modern equipments may be the
teaching professors filled up the shortages with their brilliant
qualifications and abilities.It is a heritage spot in our minds
memories already
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