Jhajjar, February 7
Monkeys doing somersaults around classrooms, dogs and pigs roaming freely inside the campus, the boundary wall demolished from various points by the neghbouring colony residents to make a shortcut passage through the campus, students in the habit of bunking classes, the teaching staff as elusive as their students and the infrastructure never up-to-the-mark.

This is the story of Government College, Bahadurgarh, situated on the Balor road on a sprawling 22 acres of land. Playing truant is the only name of the game for everyone, be it the students or the staff. The refrain about the prevailing condition in the college is “everything can be expected here except studies”. Although there are voices that differ, still the punch line is “let’s hope it will not deteriorate further”.

The college has had a glorious past. It still has a brilliant present in sports, which is the only field the staff members of the college are always eager to talk about, with remarkable achievements in swimming and athletics.

The foremost problem of the college is the ever-floating population of simians, which not only disturb and create panicky scenes in the classrooms with their mischievous behaviour but also make the classrooms filthy by defecating even at the lecterns, a lecturer rued. The students as well as teachers had voiced their concern over the monkey menace and requested the authorities to get rid of this nuisance on the campus.

Similarly, dogs and pigs are not far behind. While lazy dogs can be spotted lying and napping in every corner of the building, pigs wander around the canteen and other favoured spots.

Apart from providing safe abode to these animals, the college is also a short-cut crossing for the residents of the newly developing colonies behind the college. Much to their convenience, the residents demolished the boundary wall at five to six different points as per their suitability. As the principal of the college, Mr R. C. Marwah, puts it, “even barats (marriage parties) pass through the campus with all the hustle and bustle of band-baza”. The condition of the toilets is improving but is not satisfactory, observe students.

The principal sees no remedy for these problems, saying that they have tried to evict the monkeys by catching them and leaving them outside the town. But they returned to the college again. The boundary wall would be safe only after the construction of all the houses in the vacant plots along the wall, Mr Marwah said.

The college has not been whitewashed for many days, senior lecturers of the college informed this correspondent. The canteen building is in disrepair. It does not have any proper seating arrangements.

Apart from the infrastructure-related problems, the uncouth and undisciplined attitude of the students is stated to be the major cause of the pathetic state of affairs. A majority of the students are never interested in attending classes. Sitting idly in the lawns and gossiping seems to be the only business of them. Some lecturers told the ‘NCR Tribune’ on condition of anonymity that the attendance in the classes are very poor.

Though the students who have not attended classes regularly should be punished by striking off their names from the rolls or debarred from appearing in the annual examinations, none of the teachers has dared to take any action against such students, lecturers themselves disclosed. These sources informed that marking present without taking the attendance of students in the classroom has become a informal rule for the teaching staff in fear of the violent backlash of students in case anyone was punished. The threat is real as the principal himself was threatened for life by some students during the annual examinations in the previous year. However, they were caught with the help of the police.

Harassment of girl students and eve-teasing are a common phenomenon here, which become serious problems occasionally. The principal said that the college authorities had been taking the help of the police in dealing with such mischievous elements. Cops in plainclothes have been posted on the ways to the college. Some students were arrested in this connection recently, he said. Some among the staff revealed that almost ten per cent of the boys present on the campus during college timings are outsiders and the college authorities have failed in dealing with these troublemakers.

The frequent violent clashes and scuffle among student groups have also brought a bad name to the college. However, the college sources said that the transfer of some of the lecturers, who are allegedly abetting groupism among the students, sometime ago has brought peace on the campus to some extent as the incidents of scuffle have come down. These lecturers were transferred after a Deputy Director paid a surprise visit to the college and served notices on some of them who were found absent.

The teaching staff are also not far behind in playing truant as many of them, mostly women lecturers, are daily commuters from Rohtak and Delhi. As per the rules, a lecturer must reside in the town of his/her posting. Some lecturers divulged that the lecturers coming from outside the town have given local addresses and even claim the house rent allowances from the government.

This correspondent was sitting with a lecturer in a class when a peon arrived there with a circular issued by the principal two days ago. The circular stated that some students and their parents had complained to the principal that teachers were not taking classes. The circular directed the teachers to take the matter seriously and attend their classes regularly, especially the first and sixth periods. One of the lecturers said that practical classes are never attended by students as well as teachers. College sources informed that the Higher Education Department has issued show cause notices to about ten lecturers who were found absent when the Deputy Director paid a surprise visit recently. It is alleged that the lecturers coming from outside make false entries in the attendance register about their arrival and departure. However, Mr Marwah sought to downplay the issue maintaining that notices were issued to the lecturers who were on medical leave on that particular day. He further defended the staff coming from outstation saying that although all these lecturers had taken the houses on rent in the town, they might be joining their families in other towns after completing the college hours. He said that some of them had got special permission for the same from the government, but the college sources denied having given any such permission.

When asked about the annual results of the college, the principal said: “Most of the students with minimum pass marks get admission in the college. Hence, the results would also be on these lines.” Teachers could improve them only to a certain extent, he added.

However, some senior lecturers said that the results depend on the scale of copying in the examinations and they have nothing to do with the academic atmosphere on the campus, which is obviously pathetic. He said that the situation is more or less similar in all colleges where the percentage of students from rural areas is high. Giving the example of Nehru College in Jhajjar, he maintained the situation can be improved by strictness and willpower of the college management.

Apart from the NCC and NSS units, the college never organised co-curricular activities or any special lectures, symposiums, or any other creative event. Some members of the non-teaching staff are also undisciplined and a clerk arrived in the college drunk a couple of days ago, disclosed a lecturer.