At the Government Pre-University College in Lakshmeshwar town in Gadag district, one room serves as the staff room, principal’s chamber and the science laboratory, with just a line of cupboards separating them. This situation is not an aberration but the condition of several government PU colleges in the region.
Even as the State has to its credit prestigious institutes such as Indian Institute of Science and is all set to have its own Indian Institute of Technology in Dharwad, the condition of science education remains pathetic in several pre-university colleges in rural and semi-urban areas which rely on government educational institutions.
A large chunk of government PU science colleges do not have proper laboratory facilities, as confirmed by the data collected from the Department of Pre-University Education (DPUE).
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According to the data, of the 1,203 government PU colleges in the State, about 650 offer science courses, but a majority of them have no proper laboratory. As per the norms, the laboratories should have the dimension of minimum of 1,440 sq. ft. Accordingly, there is a requirement for 1,676 laboratory rooms based on the student strength in the State.
Travelling to labs
In the absence of laboratory facilities, many students are compelled to travel long. For instance, the students of the government college at Shirahatti have to go to nearby colleges for their practical classes. “We arrange for practical classes based on the availability of the laboratories at the nearby colleges. Sometimes the students have to travel 20 km and on some other occasions 50 km,” said a Shirahatti college lecturer.
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“Some organisations and individuals are ready to donate laboratory equipment. But where do we preserve them if we do not have laboratory rooms?” asked a principal of a college.
However, government PU colleges are not lagging behind in scoring. For instance, the pass percentage of the Shirahatti college stands at 85 and that of Lakshmeshwar college is 78. The government focusing on providing infrastructure would help boost science education in the rural areas, said teachers.
“The government randomly opened PU colleges during the last five to six years. But they neither planned for physical infrastructure nor the learning ones,” said S.V. Sankanur, academic and MLC.
“The ultimate victims are the students from unprivileged classes. Today, private colleges have been commercialised so much so that government colleges are the only option for students in most of the rural areas and small towns,” said the Student’ Federation of India State vice-president Basavaraj Pujar.
A senior DPUE official said it requires Rs. 8,000 crore to upgrade all the PU colleges. It was a “near-impossible task” to invest such a huge amount at one go, but the government would provide infrastructure in a phased manner, the official said.