Lack of staff, infrastructure: Seven Punjab polytechnic colleges in dire need of attention
The Centre had given grants of ₹ 10 crore for each college and other expenditure was supposed to be borne by the Punjab government to run these polytechnic colleges
Seven government polytechnic colleges in Punjab, set up in 2012 with financial assistance from the Centre, have been struggling with lack of proper staff and basic infrastructure, including no or non-functional labs and incomplete buildings, since the past decade, impacting the quality of education in these institutes.
According to officials, around 48 posts of lecturers, seven of head of the departments and 68 posts of workshop superintendents, foreman instructor and workshop instructors have been lying vacant since the last 10 years. Besides, none of the colleges is offering engineering diploma courses of all streams at one college.
Also, not a single college has labs for students of mechanical engineers, while labs of other engineering streams also lack proper infrastructure.
The seven colleges are Sant Baba Attar Singh Government Polytechnic college at Badbar village in Barnala, Shaheed Nand Singh Government Polytechnic College at Bareta village in Mansa, Shri Guru Hargobind Sahib Government Polytechnic college at Raanwa village in Fatehgarh Sahib and the other Government Polytechnic colleges are at village Fatuhi Khera in Muktsar, at Behram village in Nava Shehar, at Kotakpura and at Begowal village in Kapurthala.
The colleges were set up in seven districts of Punjab in 2012 with the cost of ₹ 70 crore under the central government‘s scheme ‘setting up of new polytechnic’. The Centre had given grants of ₹ 10 crore for each college and other expenditure was supposed to be borne by the state government to run these colleges.
According to an official at Sant Baba Attar Singh Government Polytechnic College, 12 posts of lecturers, 1 of the head of the department and 10 of technical staff are vacant at the institute.
Ten posts of the lecturers, 2 of the head of the department and 12 of workshop superintendents, foreman instructor and workshop instructors are also lying vacant at Shaheed Nand Singh Government Polytechnic College, Mansa.
Similarly, 26 posts of lecturers, 4 of department heads and 46 of technical staff are also lying vacant at other five polytechnic colleges.
A first-year student of mechanical engineering at Sant Baba Attar Singh Government Polytechnic College at Badbar village, said, “according to our syllabus, two-hour practical class is mandatory for each day but we are only attending theoretical classes. Now, I have to complete my education here without practical knowledge because I cannot afford the fees of private colleges.”
Meanwhile, a lecturer of the college, while pleading anonymity, said, “few years ago, we used to take students to Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology in Sangrur for practical classes once a week. Later, we had to drop this practice as it was not possible to bring students there every week.”
DPS Kharbanda, director of technical education department, said that he is aware of the matter and the department is working on upgrading the infrastructure of these polytechnic colleges with the assistance of the Central government.
“We will fulfil the requirement of staff in the coming days. Besides, we are in talks with the Central government and we are hopeful that it will provide financial assistance to the department and state and will also contribute with funds to provide new infrastructure and upgrade the existing infrastructure,” said Kharbanda.
