In shambles: Five years on, students still shuffling back and forth between buildings
New building of KU’s biotechnology dept lacks facilities, but project director says it is complete.
The project director for the new building of the biotechnology department claimed that the building was ‘complete’ but the students and faculty had to bring in chairs and whiteboards from their old department for their classes. PHOTO: EXPRESS
KARACHI:
The supposedly ‘complete’ building of the Karachi University’s biotechnology department resembles one that hasn’t been inhabited for years, but the administration appears to have no other explanation for the lack of amenities except for claiming that robbers took them.
For the last five years, hundreds of biotechnology students have graduated from the university with the unfulfilled hope of studying at the new “state-of-the-art” department building, which was promised to them when they were enrolled.
The department of biotechnology was established in 1998 at the KU and for a provisional period it was accommodated at a defunct boys’ hostel. “Obviously the location was not appropriate for academic use as it was built for residential purpose,” said a faculty member of the department. “The students and the faculty, however, managed to continue studies at the hostel building while ignoring the problems and other issues.”
The department, that started with a group of 50, later enrolled more than 500 students in both the morning and evening programmes, making it difficult for the students to attend theoretical and practical classes. Against this backdrop, the project for the department’s new building was initiated in 2005 and was supposed to be completed by 2008 at a cost of Rs60million. “But even after eight years, the building still requires additional funds worth millions of rupees to become fit for academic use,” said a member of KU syndicate, speaking on condition of anonymity. “I believe that there is a dire need to scrutinise the edifice and materials used in relation to the unceasing expenditure bills submitted by the project director, Zulfiqar Haider.”
Students take the lead
In the face of inordinate delays, the students and faculty on their own brought chairs and whiteboards from their old department to furnish at least two rooms at the new building so that they could at least have space to conduct theory classes. “The old department was full to capacity and classes could not be conducted for all batches anymore. We eventually had to move to the new building to attend our theory classes,” said a student, Muhammad Mushtaq.
“Since the new building has no water supply, taps, fans, lights, windows, and multimedia, the students have to travel approximately two kilometres back to the old building for their practical classes,” said another student, Anila Gill.
The project director, however, had formally declared the project “concluded”, claiming that the installed water supply pump, taps, fans, and other things were later stolen by unidentified men. The university, however, had never filed a report with the police regarding this alleged theft.
Meanwhile, the KU Registrar Dr Mansoor Ahmed appeared to be completely unaware about the students’ sufferings when The Express Tribune contacted him. “The department is running smoothly in the new building and students attend their classes daily with no problem at all,” he said. When told that the photographs taken by The Express Tribune showed otherwise, he admitted that it was possible that the true picture was not in his knowledge.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 31st, 2013.
The supposedly ‘complete’ building of the Karachi University’s biotechnology department resembles one that hasn’t been inhabited for years, but the administration appears to have no other explanation for the lack of amenities except for claiming that robbers took them.
For the last five years, hundreds of biotechnology students have graduated from the university with the unfulfilled hope of studying at the new “state-of-the-art” department building, which was promised to them when they were enrolled.
The department of biotechnology was established in 1998 at the KU and for a provisional period it was accommodated at a defunct boys’ hostel. “Obviously the location was not appropriate for academic use as it was built for residential purpose,” said a faculty member of the department. “The students and the faculty, however, managed to continue studies at the hostel building while ignoring the problems and other issues.”
The department, that started with a group of 50, later enrolled more than 500 students in both the morning and evening programmes, making it difficult for the students to attend theoretical and practical classes. Against this backdrop, the project for the department’s new building was initiated in 2005 and was supposed to be completed by 2008 at a cost of Rs60million. “But even after eight years, the building still requires additional funds worth millions of rupees to become fit for academic use,” said a member of KU syndicate, speaking on condition of anonymity. “I believe that there is a dire need to scrutinise the edifice and materials used in relation to the unceasing expenditure bills submitted by the project director, Zulfiqar Haider.”
Students take the lead
In the face of inordinate delays, the students and faculty on their own brought chairs and whiteboards from their old department to furnish at least two rooms at the new building so that they could at least have space to conduct theory classes. “The old department was full to capacity and classes could not be conducted for all batches anymore. We eventually had to move to the new building to attend our theory classes,” said a student, Muhammad Mushtaq.
“Since the new building has no water supply, taps, fans, lights, windows, and multimedia, the students have to travel approximately two kilometres back to the old building for their practical classes,” said another student, Anila Gill.
The project director, however, had formally declared the project “concluded”, claiming that the installed water supply pump, taps, fans, and other things were later stolen by unidentified men. The university, however, had never filed a report with the police regarding this alleged theft.
Meanwhile, the KU Registrar Dr Mansoor Ahmed appeared to be completely unaware about the students’ sufferings when The Express Tribune contacted him. “The department is running smoothly in the new building and students attend their classes daily with no problem at all,” he said. When told that the photographs taken by The Express Tribune showed otherwise, he admitted that it was possible that the true picture was not in his knowledge.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 31st, 2013.