Acute space shortage in Patna University

PATNA: Patna University (PU) has been running a “parallel university� for the last 27 years. And, this self-sufficient “parallel university� has of late assumed a larger canvas than its parent university.
PU’s Directorate of Distance Education (DDE), formerly known as the Institute of Correspondence Courses, has got over 15,000 students on its roll, whereas the combined strength of all the 12 constituent colleges and 32 post-graduate departments of PU is hardly 10,000.
The DDE offers intermediate and three-year degree courses in arts and commerce, besides post-graduate diploma courses in library and information science, journalism and mass communication, public administration and international relations. Surprisingly, all the activities of DDE are being managed with only 46 employees, whereas PU is facing difficulty in managing its affairs even with 1,200 employees. The DDE is not only completely self-dependent and seeks no financial help from any authority but also extends financial help to the fund-starved PU at the time of crisis.
This “milch cow� of PU, however, faces an acute shortage of space for running its show smoothly. Presently located in a cramped portion of the old library building of PU, the DDE has hardly got any space to accommodate the huge rush of admission seekers. Even the 27 counters set up by the DDE fail to cope with the demands of students. It has got no space for holding contact classes and conduct examinations, says DDE director R R Sahay. Consequently, all the DDE students take the university examinations along with the regular students.
As the space at present available in different colleges is hardly sufficient to accommodate even the regular students of PU, the authorities face a Herculean task in finding space for the DDE students. The colleges are forced to suspend classes during the entire period of examinations. Sahay says the problem is likely to ease soon as three new examination halls have been constructed. Moreover, the DDE is also striving hard to get a building.