In-depth study hub: Patna Science College

A modern centralised block at Patna Science College would soon give a major boost to applied science study and research work.

The science cradle, which recently celebrated its 88th foundation day, would boast of a separate building, christened Technology Bhavan, dedicated to the needs of study and research and would be equipped with all modern scientific equipment.

During his visit to the institution last Saturday, education minister Brishen Patel announced that Rs 1 crore would be provided for the construction of the separate block. The college administration has started the process and the detailed project report of Technology Bhavan would be sent to the state government within two to three days. Once the Bhavan is constructed, the college would have a separate and centralised block for research work.

Patna Science College principal U.K. Sinha said: “With the construction of a centralised and separate block, all research work being carried out by different departments would be done from a single block. Moreover, there would be no separate distribution of funds received from the University Grants Commission (UGC) or the department of science and technology to different departments.”

Every year, the UGC and the department of science and technology provide funds to various departments such as chemistry, physics, geology, botany, zoology and others for carrying out research. The funds are released from the centre agency in the name of college heads and depending upon the requirement, the college principal distributes funds to different departments for purchase of equipment and chemicals according to the requirement. However, once the Technology Bhavan comes up, the fund would be directly routed to the Technology Bhavan head and there would be no separate purchase of equipment or chemicals by various departments but centralised purchase.

Echoing the principal, Patna Science College geology teacher Atul Aditya Pandey said: “The concept of centralised research building is a good step taken by the college administration, as in many central universities too, there is an instrumentation centre, where all research work is carried out by different departments under a single roof.”

Also, if all research work is done under a roof, the college administration would appoint a technical expert to look after the equipment. At present, many departments don’t have technical experts to carry out experiments.

The other benefit of centralised instrumentation centre is that many self-financing and vocational courses running from Science College premises would get laboratory for carrying out experiments.

At present, the college runs self-financing courses in biotechnology, computer applications (BCA) and environmental sciences but none of those has its own classroom and laboratory.

In the absence of laboratories and classrooms, the students of self-financing courses have to run here and there.

Welcoming the decision, Navin Kishore, a second-year BCA student, said: “It is good that the college administration has decided to set up an instrumentation centre. It would be very beneficial for self-financing course students like me.”