BN College students share their summer vacation experiences on the campus in Patna on Monday. Picture by Jai Prakash

The buzz at the colleges affiliated to Patna University was missing even though a few students turned up at various institutes on time, courtesy the varsity’s ongoing entrance examinations.

The major colleges under Patna University reopened on Monday after a month-long summer vacation.

As the students, who chose not to extend their vacation any longer, turned up at their respective colleges, they found their teachers busy with entrance examinations. The result: impromptu games of cricket in the absence of classes.

Sources said colleges could start full-fledged classes only next week when the entrance tests at the different institutes end.

Magadh Mahila College conducted the entrance test on Monday, while Patna Women’s College will conduct the exam on Tuesday. All other colleges would complete their entrance tests by July 7.

BN College student Manish Gupta, who were one of the few to reach the campus on Monday, said: “Classes generally do not fill up just after vacations, as the students from rural areas fail to reach college on time. They often extend their vacations but this year, entrance tests are the reason behind the less number of students on campus.”

“We think classes would start only after the entrance tests end,” added Gupta.

Entrance examinations at BN College would be conducted on July 5.

Gupta further said less number of students turned up on the first day of the institute because the results of Part I and Part II honours examination have not yet been published.

Anil Yadav, another BN College student, said: “Classes were supposed to start from Monday after vacations, so I reached the college on time. But once here, I saw that very few students had come. Classes were later suspended because of the less number of students.”

Randhir Kumar Singh, a teacher of Patna College, said classes would start properly only after the entrance tests, as the teachers have been deputed on invigilation duty and are busy.

He said: “At Patna College, examination will be held on July 4. Around 2,200 students are going to appear in the test.”

Patna College principal Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh on Monday convened a meeting with the college teachers regarding the preparation for the institute’s entrance test.

Randhir Kumar Singh said: “Out of 2,200 students appearing in the test, the centre for around 1,800 is at Patna College. The rest will sit for their entrance examination at Patna Science College.”

He added: “Conducting entrance examination is tedious work. It is not a daily affair and we have to arrange seating arrangements for the students among other formalities, which require the assistance of the teachers.”

With classes suspended and teachers busy, the students at Patna Science College and Patna College made good use of their time playing cricket.

At Darbhanga House, which runs Patna University postgraduate classes, too, students’ attendance was less. The reason was the extension of the admission process for postgraduate courses. A majority of the students who reached the campus were second-year students. The admission process has been extended to July 6.

Admission to postgraduate courses at Patna University would be completed by August 16 and classes for the fresh batches would start on August 17. Classes of vocational and self-financing courses are also scheduled to commence on July 17.