Students of the Government Vocational Junior College here have no option but to sit on the floor all through the classes — from 8.30 a.m. till 4.00 p.m. — round the year.
The college, started in 2008 after getting segregated from the regular intermediate stream, has not seen a single desk or bench for the students. There are 560 students with girls outnumbering boys in this institute which offers 13 vocational courses. Medical and lab technician (MLT), multi-purpose health worker (MPHW) and electrician courses are in demand here.
Over 90 per cent of the students come from poor families. At a time when the government-run junior colleges are finding it a Herculean task to find students due to competition from private institutions, this vocational junior college has full strength for all the courses of both first and second years, with remarkable pass percentage and little or no dropout rate.
A success story
The faculty, a majority of them on outsourcing and part-time basis, observe that girls from several villages of Chittoor division show extraordinary interest in pursuing vocational education, and many of them are settled as MLTs and MPHWs.
The students have achieved this success despite facing trying circumstances. For 560 students, there are just half-a-dozen classrooms, each accommodating both first and second year students who are huddled together. Aged between 16-18, the students observe that at first they used to feel ashamed of sitting on the floor.
Making their plight worse, the shortage of classrooms forces them to sit on sand outside the classrooms, under the trees. During summer and rainy seasons, their predicament turns unbearable.
The rough conditions of sitting on floor and on hot or wet sand, frequently getting drenched, has a telling effect on their uniform.
A senior girl student from Yadamarri mandal said that due to fast wear and tear, their uniform (chudidhar) would turn gaudy and untidy.
“We feel ashamed travelling in buses and autos wearing such clothes. Sitting for longer hours on rough floors and sand in the open air is really difficult, but we are helpless,” she said. Boys have abandoned the practice of tucking in shirt in the longer run. The parents too express their disgust at the plight of their children. “Since 2008, the college is not able to get a single desk for the students. We can’t understand what’s actually going on here? We are afraid of questioning the principal or faculty, because our children’s future is in their hands,” they said.
Teachers too
have to stand
Ironically, several faculty members also have no chairs in the classrooms forcing them to stand for long hours, with their backs pressed to the walls or to the tree trunks. What bothers the students, mostly girls, is that the classrooms of the PCR Government Junior College (regular stream), just a few feet away, are well equipped with desks and benches. “Our regular counterparts laugh at our predicament, and this is very demoralising,” the girls say. Principal G. Dharnasekaram admitted that it was disgusting to see the teenage students sitting on the floor. “We have plans to approach donors. We have very little money — to the tune of Rs 2 lakh — with the college, and this is not sufficient to meet the big requirement,” he said.
