A rich legacy of 153 years behind, Patna College has a unique student-teacher ratio of 85:1.

Whether it's an amazing feat - 27 teachers managing 2,300 and odd students - or a matter of disgrace - a ratio that is much below the national average - depends on which point people prefer to view it from.

Set up on January 9, 1863, by the British, the deterioration in standard of the institution on all fronts is evident. The sad part is that it was the first college and oldest institution to provide higher education in undivided Bihar.

Briton J.K. Rogers was the first principal of the college, once considered the pride of entire eastern India. The neglect of college can be gauged from the fact that around 12 college teachers retired from services in the 2014-15 academic session but no teacher has been recruited so far.

Sources said UGC guidelines mandate a student-teacher ratio of 10:1 at the postgraduate level, while the same is 25:1 at the undergraduate level. The teachers who retired from service in 2015 included N.K. Chaudhary (economics teacher), Rash Bihari Prasad Singh (geography), Jayanti Sircar (economics), Amar Kumar Singh and Balram Tiwari (Hindi) respectively.

Rash Bihari Prasad Singh, who has the experience of being the student, teacher and principal of college, said: "When we joined the institution in 1967, we were part of the glory of the institution. But now the college has just legacy."

Presently the vice-chancellor of Nalanda Open University (NOU), Rash Bihari said: "When we were students, college teachers were always ready to help in academic work, even at the teachers' club. But now, there is a club with no teachers. Even the students were disciplined and regular classes were held along with special emphasis on extra-curricular activities."

A senior government officer and also an alumni of the college on said: " A large number of students used to clear civil services, banking and other government service examinations from Patna College even around two decades ago. But now, students clearing such competitive examination is abysmally low."

Even college teachers felt that there had been a severe slump in the academic standard of the institution. Randhir Kumar Singh, a teacher, said: "The institution is now known for all the wrong reasons - be it group clashes or brawls but hardly any student from the institution in the past decade has brought laurels for the institution."

However, the students blamed the state government and the university administration for the poor performance of the college. Yogesh Sharma, a college student, said: "The state's disinterest in improving the standard of higher education can be gauged from the fact that teachers' strength is decreasing day by day but that of the students has gone up in the past few years."

However, college principal Ran Vijoy Singh said: "Neither the college nor the university has any role in appointing teachers. The state government has to initiate the process. For academic improvement, the hostel allotment has to be carried out on set guidelines."

Education minister Ashok Chaudhary, the chief guest of the foundation day function on January 9, would felicitate the 12 retired teachers.