Chittagong Government College
Heritage <i>crumbles </i> with building
Many cracks have developed in the walls and ceilings of an old and dilapidated building of Chittagong Government College in the port city where students take classes in the building, risking their lives. Photo: Anurup Kanti Das
The crumbling plaster of a ceiling suddenly fell on Nusrat, injuring her seriously while she was working in the practical class along with other students. Other students like Nusrat Jahan, a first year student of geography and environment department of Chittagong Government College, are taking classes in an old and dilapidated building, risking their lives. The cracks in the college building may lead to a serious accident anytime, posing a threat to the students, employees and teachers. Same condition is of the Bangla department, galleries and the academic building. Students alleged that incidents of plaster falling off the ceiling are common in classrooms, galleries and seminar rooms of geography and environment departments. Many cracks have developed in the walls and ceilings. The students are receiving lectures in the dilapidated classrooms and working in the risky laboratories and seminar room. Besides, the passages of the veranda of geography and environment department remain dark due to a lack of light while windows of the classrooms of both the sides of the passages are broken. The teachers' rooms are also in a very bad shape. The ceilings and walls of the teachers' rooms have become clammy. The rods of the ceilings are visible. Same condition is prevailing in four galleries where classes of Bangla department and most of the examinations are held, said the students. Water seeps through the roof and forms puddles on the floor of the classes and veranda whenever it rains on the one-storey building of geography department, causing suffering to the students as well as the teachers during class hours. Audita Barua said the classrooms and benches remain damp during the rainy season as the rain water seeps through the roof, hampering the classes. “The atmosphere of the classes is not appropriate for attending classes,” she added. Mohammad Abu Hanif said they could not walk through the passages of the veranda during the rainy season. “The students always fear of collapse of the building during the class hours,” Hanif added. Badrun Nahar, a teacher of the department, said they could not teach properly due to the dilapidated condition of the classrooms. “The room of the lab is so vulnerable that we are always in fear of falling plaster from overhead,” she said, adding that the electrical wires are also damaged due to the vulnerable condition. Enamul Haque, also a teacher, said three rooms of the teachers had been declared abandoned as cracks developed in those rooms. “We were compelled to arrange rooms for the teachers in an extended portion of a building”. Due to a lack of classrooms, our students are forced to take their classes in the dilapidated rooms, risking their lives, he added. A total of 468 honours and 51 masters students of the geography and environment department attend classes in the building. Principal Shekhar Dastidar said the dilapidated building may collapse during an earthquake leading to an awful tragedy just like the one that occurred in Jagannath Hall of Dhaka University (DU). The one-storey building of geography department may collapse anytime as repair works has not been done for a long time, Dastidar said. He said they wrote to the education engineering department (EED) and Public Works Department (PWD) about the building and to construct a new one for the department. Principal Dastidar said they could not shift the classrooms due to a lack of rooms and classes. He said renovation of the academic building and galleries, where Bangla classes and examinations are held, is immediately needed. He said the building should be preserved as a heritage site for the tourists as it was constructed during the British period. PWD Sub-Divisional Engineer Md Masudul Alam said the cracks developed in the building due to earthquakes. “It is risky to take classes in the building,” he said, adding that both geography and administrative buildings of the college were not repaired and maintained for a long time. EED looks after buildings of all educational institutions through PWD, he said. When contacted, Assistant Engineer Md Jalal Uddin of EED told The Daily Star that the government's allocation is too inadequate for renovation of the buildings. The geography building is out of use. So a new building is necessary for the students. But this depends on the government's allocation of fund, Jalal said, adding that they have sent a proposal to the ministry in this regard.
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