Campus gets bamboo-stic

Delhi University students can look forward to respite from having classes in the lawns, in the common room or in various nooks of the college. Some colleges are set to counter the space crunch by constructing bamboo classrooms. This move, they say, will not only make up for the lack of classrooms but also give the campus a green face.

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Beautiful idea
Sunil Sondhi, principal, Maharaja Agrasen College, says, “The VC asked me to look at the bamboo canteen in South Campus. It looked so elegant and beautiful and I knew it was a wonderful idea.” Kanan Nanda, principal, Daulat Ram College, says, “We’re going for bamboo classrooms because these are durable and can last upto 30 years.”

An official at Sri Venkateswara College said that for their college, however, it would be a temporary arrangement. “The number of students is increasing every year and construction takes time. We are all for it but only as a temporary measure. It’s too early to say when we’ll erect these.”

Sondhi, however, says that the Delhi government has given funds and they have already paid the National Bamboo Mission. “We’ll construct these by July 15 to welcome the freshers. The cabins are so simple to build that we’ll take students’ help in erecting them. Each room can accommodate up to 50 students.”

Many takers
Other colleges that will go in for bamboo classrooms are Maitreyi, Kirori Mal and Acharaya Narendra Dev College. Gargi College, too, had given it a thought but principal Mira Ramchandran says that “they don’t have the ground space for it.”

Meanwhile, students are glad with the idea. It is, they say, much better than having classes in the lawns (in the heat), the common room or the canteen. LSR graduate Deepali Sharma says, “We used to have classes in the gazebo and even the café. Since these places were meant for people to chill out, they used to disturb us by playing songs and ringtones aloud. It was at times a nightmare. I envy the juniors.” So do we!