Govt Arts and Science College in Pollachi surrenders 20% seats
Government Arts and Science College, Pollachi, has surrendered 20% of seats due to space constraints and lack of furniture. Started in 2017, the college has a total strength of 300 students and offers five undergraduate courses, including BA English Lit., BSc Mathematics, BBA and BCom (CA).
Following the announcement of the higher education department that government colleges can increase the intake of first-year students by 20% in all branches, the strength in the government arts and science should have now been increased to 360 in the 2023-24 academic year. But the management has decided not to add 60 more seats, entitled for the college. The reason for not raising our capacity to 360 is because the college lacks enough space to accommodate students and does not have furniture for them to sit,” U Sumathy, principal, told.
Earlier, the college was functioning inside a school campus. Recently, it moved to its own building. However, the new space was only enough to accommodate the original sanctioned strength, which is 300. Moreover, we lacked furniture, and therefore we had to borrow it from the school to accommodate all the 300 students,’’ the principal said.
“The college has 20 computers. We allot one computer to three students – be it practical or normal class hours. We need computers as well,” she said. “Hence, we had to surrender the fresh 20% seats,’’ she added. However, messages were circulated on social media that the government arts college had surrendered the seats at the behest of a private college in the region. Vehemently denying the charge, education department authorities said the strength was not increased in the interest of students.
If the strength had been increased, the new students, as well as the existing students, would suffer as they have to share the meagre facilities, said sources in the government college. While taking this decision, the college management followed all the rules as per the guidelines of the government and did not deny admission to any students, the principal said. Once the adequate infrastructure was provided, the intake would be increased, she said.
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