KARACHI, Feb 25: With no electricity and no water, a dilapidated building, bad renovation and a severe shortage of teaching and non-teaching staff, the Diwan Dayaram Jethamal (DJ) Sindh Government Science College, one of the top educational institutions in the city, is a grim reflection of the state of colleges in the province.

The college reopened for fresh sessions only this week to hold classes and practicals in its hot and dark rooms. “We don’t know what to complain about, the dark, the heat or the lack of cleanliness in the classrooms,” Waseem Ashraf, a student of BSc Part-I, told Dawn. “As a consequence of having no power, we don’t even have any water.”

Power at DJ Science College was disconnected last week due to non-payment of bills. The college owes some Rs0.9 million to the Karachi Electric Supply Company. And if that was not enough, it is also facing additional charges of power theft after the KESC discovered a kunda (illegal power connection) at the A.Q. Khan Block.

“We also spent most of last year without electricity due to non- payment of bills. Power was restored for three to four months before getting disconnected again,” said Asif Zaidi of the Department of Physics.

“Some BSc microbiology practical exams have been postponed as there is no power supply,” said Mohammad Manzoor, a lab assistant.

Microbiology teachers Nadia Noor and Shaista Memon said the practical exam centre could not be switched at such a short notice as all centres had been designated a while ago and each centre also had its own capacity, too.

“So the students appearing for their practical exams here have to suffer as the whole practical depends on incubators, hot air ovens, refrigerators and microscopes. The hot air ovens are used for steralising the petri dishes and the organisms don’t grow very well outside the incubators,” said Ms Noor.

“Thank God, we have gas at least so we are making do with the autoclave for everything, which is not enough. And the readings are all not coming right, too,” added Ms Memon.

A lack of teachers is another issue. “The students of zoology have no teachers as both the teachers who teach the subject at DJ are unavailable because they had invigilator duties to perform during the BSc practical exams at some other centre,” provided a BSc Part-I student, Sumayya Aslam.

“We have two teachers each for zoology and botany, one each for Pakistan Studies and Islamiat, one for geology and no librarian,” said the college’s vice-principal Dr Mohammad Arshad. “The only geology teacher in the college, too, retires in August and since he won’t be here next year, the college has now refused BS Part-I admissions for geology for the 2013-2014 session, which is sad. And it will be tragic when the geology department, established here in 1978, closes down after the current 60 students complete their course.”

Asked if he would seek an extension, the only geology teacher at the college, Syed Mohammad Maroof Husain, said: “I am more for new inductions than trying to stick around myself. There should be new appointments of teachers to carry on the process of teaching rather than their holding on to one teacher.”

D.J. Science College has been undergoing plenty of renovation for the last six years, but it seems to have done more harm than good to this historical building. To add more capacity to the chemistry labs, they have added a mezzanine floor with very low ceilings and hardly any ventilation. “We can’t really use these rooms for chemistry experiments. The students would suffocate in the fumes,” pointed out the college vice-principal.

The college hostel building was also taken over by Rangers several years ago. Its MSc computer department planned in the A.Q. Khan Block could never start as after renovation of that side of the college building, a big portion there was turned into a camp office for Sindh Senior Minister for Education and Literacy Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq. The college’s five peons and three sweepers also do not turn up for regular duty as they have been assigned work at homes and offices of various VIPs in the education ministry.

Commenting on the state of this leading college, director-general of colleges in Sindh and chairman of the Centralised Admission Policy Committee, Dr Nasir Ansar, said the power crisis would hopefully be resolved in a few days. “We have written to the government of Sindh finance department to get the college’s electricity dues cleared,” he said.

Dr Ansar also said the problems due to the shortage of teachers in the geology department were temporary. “I am aware that the only teacher there retires in a few months. A requisition for new teachers has already been sent to the Sindh Public Service Commission,” he said.

About the haphazard renovation he said that it was a PC-1 requirement after the college buildings were declared heritage sites.

Agreeing that the mezzanine floor had resulted in a low ceiling in the chemistry labs, he said the problem would be remedied by installing an exhaust system.