Classes held 'anywhere', 6 chairs for 7 lecturers in one room

PICTURE TELLS THE TALE: A student studying in a room at the lone girls' hostel of the SSMC (left); The makeshift girls' reading room at the veranda of the Sir Salimullah Medical College (right).Photo: STAR

Sir Salimullah Medical College (SSMC), the second largest medical college of the country, has only 11 classrooms for around 660 students, which is quite inadequate for smooth running of academic activities.
Classrooms crammed with students, partitioned rooms for the teachers, makeshift reading rooms in the veranda and classes being arranged in Mitford Hospital's rooms are common scenes at the SSMC.
"A congenial atmosphere of holding classes is totally missing here as classrooms are packed with students," said a teacher. The authorities are forced to hold classes even at the girls' common room, he said.
“We cannot use the common room for the last two years,” said Tania, a student, adding that the girl students' reading room is arranged at the veranda adjacent to the common room.
Students of two batches have to attend classes together in a small room of pharmacology department as two classrooms of the department have been declared risky due to their dilapidated condition.
At present the college building has two lecture galleries which are used as exam halls and for holding classes as the building does not have a designated exam hall. “All the classes in lecture galleries remain postponed thrice a year during internal exams,” said a student.
The classes of forensic medicine are held in two rooms, one of them is a teachers' common room on the seventh floor of Mitford Hospital. Medicine and surgery classes are held in two seminar rooms of the hospital.
“Attending classes in a hospital room is always difficult. When we have two consecutive classes with the latter one at the hospital sometimes we have to run to get to the class in time,” said Romel, a fourth-year student.
With each batch having around 150 to 180 students, the total number of students stands around 660 from first year to fourth year of the medical college. Fifth-year students attend classes at the hospital.
Of the 11 classrooms, anatomy department has four, pathology and microbiology department has two each, and biochemistry, physiology and pharmacology department has one classroom each.
The department of community medicine is suffering the most as it does not have any classroom of its own. Lecturers of this department were seen sitting inside a dilapidated room crammed with tables and chairs. This is their only place of sitting when they do not have classes.
“The lecturers do not have individual rooms, so they have to sit together here," said a teacher of the department.
"This room has six chairs for seven lecturers. So when all of us are here one has no place to sit," he added.
The way to the lecturers' room is narrowed down by a partition in the veranda to arrange a makeshift room for two associate professors.
"This is not a room. Actually it is a partitioned veranda. When it rains water seeps inside the room,” said a teacher.
Asked about the shortage of classrooms, AMSM Sharfuzzaman, vice principal of the medical college, said once the construction of the new academic building is finished the problem would go.
"The new building is expected to be finished in the first week of June. There will be two lecture galleries with the accommodation of 300 students. PWD is supposed to hand it over to us on 25th May,” he said.
Construction of the building started in 2003 although it was supposed to begin in 2002. The work remained postponed for and started again last year. Originally it was scheduled to be finished in 2004.
Arefur Rahman, executive engineer, Medical College Division, PWD, said the construction work started late because it took time to remove illegal houses of third and fourth class employees of Mitford Hospital on the plot.
He said work of the eight-storey academic building has been completed up to five-storey.

Hostile condition at girls' hostel

Almost all the rooms of the lone girls' hostel of Sir Salimullah Medical College are overflowing with students as the hostel does not have the capacity to accommodate such a large number of students.
Around 60 percent of the total students of the college are girls.
Eight to 27 students are staying in one room of the hostel. On each floor only three toilets and two bathrooms are available for 60 to 70 students.
“For taking a bath every day we wait for hours for our turn in front of the bathrooms,” said Mukta, a fourth year student.
At present there are no reading room, dining room or TV room as all of these rooms are being used for accommodating girls.
In the absence of a dining room the students have to take meals in the ramshackle hostel canteen. A TV set is placed under a shed in front of the canteen. The guestroom is allocated to foreign students.
“When any relative comes from home we cannot arrange space for him/her to stay. When a male visits us it becomes very embarrassing to welcome him as there is no guest room,” said Yasmeen, another student.
Asked, the vice principal of SSMC said an intern hostel for female doctors is under construction which will help ease the problem.