MUNNAR GOVERNMENT COLLEGE

 MUNNAR GOVERNMENT COLLEGE

          LEARNING OBJECTIVE(S)

                   To study about the relevant issues related with the educational field or in the teaching - learning processes.

A CAMPUS LIFE ; WITHOUT A COLLEGE IN GOVERNMENT COLLEGE, MUNNAR

                          

                     For the last six years the students of Government College, Munnar has been attending classes at the Government Engineering College, Munnar. Students are depending on Munnar Engineering College for their studies after a series of landslides destroyed the Government College buildings in 2018. The college was destroyed and classes are being held at Munnar Engineering College's mechanical engineering workshop and budget hotel building. Hence students are going there everyday and they lack a proper academic environment.

                                          The Government College at Munnar was destroyed when a portion of the hill behind it caved in on August 16, 2018. Mud, rocks and water enveloped the newly - built academic blocks, student's hostel, staff quarters and the pump house. Later, the government declared that the landslides rendered the buildings unsafe and classes should not be conducted there. Six years has passed since the landslides, now the education department initiated plans to re - build the college. 

                            The college was setup in 1995 mainly to cater to the socially and economically backward students - children of tea plantation workers in Munnar. Munnar is a town in the Western Ghats and is famous for sprawling tea plantations. The college, affiliated to Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam, has been offering undergraduate courses in Mathematics, Economics, Tamil and Commerce, apart from post graduate courses in Commerce and Economics.

                                After the landslides, classes resumed at the Munnar Engineering College, which lies 3 km from the landslide - hit college. But the temporary structure lacks many basic facilities. Classrooms in this asbestos - roofed building are partitioned with plywood boards and shelfs. Lecture from one class can be heard at least three classes afar. Rain always plays spoilsport during the classes. Asbestos roof makes heavy noise during the rain forcing the teachers to suspend the classes. The campus are living like refugees in the engineering college. The college's administration wing, computer lab and store room are functioning in the near by hostel run by the Scheduled Tribe Development Department.

                                   The college had a library with a huge collection of valuable books. After the landslides, the books lie unattended at the abandoned building and the college authorities could not move the books to a new place due to unavailability of a building. Many students have not seen the college library. They are referring guides given by the teachers. Some of them however hope to see it before finishing their courses. The workshop does not have restrooms and students have to walk for 15 minutes to access the facility in the engineering college building. In the absence of hostel accommodation, students from economically weaker sections have to shell out huge amount of money for daily commute from their homes to college and back. Teachers too expressed their anxiety about the fate of the college.

             The college was hit by two major landslides since its inceptions. The first landslide occurred in 2005 - exactly 10 years after its inauguration - following which the college was shifted to a hostel of the Scheduled Tribes Development Department. The college continued in the temporary facilities for five years. With the government ignoring pleas for a new campus, the college authorities decided to go back to the landslide - hit location in 2010. In the next eight years, many new buildings - classrooms, seminar hall, administrative block, ladies hostel and Principal's quarters - came up the landslide - hit site. However, all the buildings were destroyed in the landslides on August 16, 2018, a few days before inauguration. The college did not function on that day as a huge boulder blocked the entry to the campus. It saved the lives of students and teachers.

              Even as the students and teachers of the college wait for a new campus, a debate is going on about the availability of land and funds. The government is willing to sanction funds for a new college, but the difficulty is to find a revenue land in Munnar. A new site has been identified for the college. The buildings will be constructed near the boys hostel of Government Engineering College, decision by the Honorable Higher Education Minister visited at the college in connection with the land acquisition process.