The College of Arts and Crafts, Patna. Telegraph picture

Patna, March 4: The College of Arts and Crafts, Patna, is set to get a facelift. The state human resource development (HRD) department has promised monetary assistance to upgrade the college.

The institute, the only art college in Bihar and Jharkhand, has produced several distinguished artistes, including Subodh Gupta, Sanjay Kumar and Narendra Pal Singh, is crying for attention because of faculty crunch. HRD minister P.K. Shahi said after the constitution of the proposed university service commission, the art college would also get faculty members. The commission will act for the appointment of teachers and faculty members in the various universities.

However, as a stop-gap arrangement, the college can appoint teachers on contractual basis for which the state HRD department will provide monetary assistance, Shahi said. At present, the college is functioning with only one teacher against a sanctioned strength of eight.

The HRD department has also directed the college administration to prepare and submit a list of teachers, painters and sculptors who will be appointed on contract.

College principal Atul Aditya Pandey said: “The HRD minister has also assured that the department will provide monetary assistance to the college in appointing painters, sculptors and teachers of national fame as visiting faculties.”

The art and craft college has been suffering from faculty crunch for a long time and students of the college have also staged demonstrations to demand appointment of teachers. Few weeks back, Anima Kumari, a student of the college, along with her friends had approached Shahi at a janata darbar to urge him regarding the appointment of teachers. Shahi had assured the students to look into their problems.

The college, which was established on January 25, 1939, introduced the bachelor of fine arts programme in 1977. Since then, there has been no appointment of teachers. Around 300 students are admitted after a test for a five-year integrated course. The college runs three courses — painting, sculpture and applied art and a student gets a degree in fine art.