Once used to be an Education hub, Nehru College Bahadurganj is now turned into a place where students only visit the college premises for getting admission, filling examination forms and receiving the mark sheets. Md. Mudassir Alam – Editor KishanganjBihr.com brings the inside story of Nehru College.
“Haazaron saal nargis apni benoori pe roti hai, Badi Mushkil say hota hay Chaman mein Deedawar Paida”.
The above mentioned famous couplet of legendary poet Allama Iqbal which means “For thousands of years, The narcissus (flower) has bemoaned its blindness; It is with great difficulty that a discerning sage (i.e. one who sees what others cannot see), Appears in the garden (of life),” has been a source of inspiration and proved true in real sense under various circumstances. I would like to use the couplets of Allama Iqbal for Bahadurganj, a suburb in Purnia division of Bihar, which had got Deedawars like Late Shafqat Hussain, Late Abdul Moghni and few others. These Deedawars with their combined efforts established a College with the name “Nehru College” for offering higher education to the students of the area.
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| Main Building of Nehru College Bahadurganj |
This past month I got a chance to visit Nehru College for some official work. I reached the college premises at around 11 AM. Ohhh, the campus is really big and thronged by several buildings, including hostels and play ground. But to my utter surprise only one or two staffs were present in the college by 11 AM. Although the office timings for college starts from 10 AM, but there was no sign of most of the staffs. After 11:00 AM, few staffs entered the college premises and greeted each other in casual style. There was no any information about the care-taking Principal of the college. When I enquired with few staffs they told that he might come or not come. Thankfully, my work was not requiring the presence of care-taking Principal as some other staff was having the authority to complete the same. After getting my work done I left the college premises at around 12 Noon, but till the time I left the premises Principal was absent from his office.
I wondered how a college is run by UGC and the government where there are only 2 teaching staffs (including a care-taking Principal) and enrollments are full in almost all subjects of Arts and Humanities? There are huge lecture theatres without proper maintenance, big Library with thousands of books but handled by a single peon cum Librarian, a big Computer Lab with around 10 desktops, printers, Xerox machine, etc. but without any dedicated staff to use the facilities, two hostels one each for boys and girls but not a single student to reside in same, an under construction Stadium where hardly anyone will play. In short the funds given by University Grant Commission (UGC) are mercilessly wasted by the care-taking Principal.
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| Door of Principal's Office |
Another question that struck my mind was office hours of the college staffs, as in most govt jobs it is minimum of 6 hours. One of the staff after ensuring that I will not reveal his name said that usually they come to office by 11 AM and leave the premises by 2 PM. When I asked about the Vigilance team’s raid or other types of investigation, he replied that they get the information about the visit of any investigating team well in advance. Only during the period of investigation for a couple of days they come office on time and leave on time. And also the college premises including class rooms and offices are cleaned. Unless most of the time in year the condition remains same.
Established in late 1970s on the land gifted by Late Shafqat sahab, the College also got recognition of government in a couple of years and became a hub of the education for higher studies in the backward area of Bahadurganj. The college has witnessed lecturers who were experts of their subjects like Prof Abdul Moghni founder of Nehru College, Prof Hanif Alam (Principal & Head of the Department of English), Prof Mohd Maswood Alam (Reader and Head of the Department of English), Prof Subhan sahab, Prof Alim sahab, Prof Hasib sahab, Prof Hayat sahab, Prof Mahendra Yadav, Prof Abir Chand, and few others whom I am unable to recall right now.
From 1970s till early 2000s, the college remained a hub of education, and a unique type of bonding among the teachers and students were visible in the college premises. However, the founder members and old faculty members of the college got retired after 1990s, which affected the curriculum inside the campus. The concerned university BNMU (Bhupendra Narayan Mandal University) didn’t appointed the faculty in place of retiring professors for the particular subject and slowly-slowly the environment in the college became very dull. The college became a place only for getting admission, filling examination forms and receiving the mark sheets. The faculties too became lethargic in absence of proper Principal and classes were hardly conducted. Even the non-teaching staff became lethargic and the environment of Nehru got totally spoiled. Now for teaching and non-teaching staffs, Nehru College is like a “Milking Cow”, that is they only care for their salaries and nothing about the importance and its real purpose.
The souls of Late Shafqat Hussain sahab, Late Abdul Moghni sahab, Late Maswood sb and other old staffs would be really in panic on the poor state of Nehru College. It is the duty of the residents of Bahardurganj, educated classes from different parts of Kishanganj and elected representatives to restore the glory of Nehru College and making it a hub of education where the teachers and students complement each other for taking it ahead and serve its real purpose.
