Nav Bharat Jagriti Kendra members distribute cotton bags during an awareness campaign against the use of polythene bags in Ranchi on Sunday. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, July 17: The absence of a laboratory, in the geography department of Ranchi Women's College (RWC), is forcing the students to carry out their curriculum-prescribed practical work in the classroom; leading to much hardship.

The narrow benches are inadequate to keep and work with the required equipment, such as the surveying instruments, drawing instruments and maps, which are shared among the students.

According to the norms, practicals should be conducted in groups of students not more than 16 students. But here, the students in the group number 80, which incidentally is the entire strength of the class.

A third year student, Niharika Kumari, said she is unable to understand the practical work. ?I wish there was a proper and equipped geography lab. This would help us and the teachers can guide us more clearly and explain better,? said Kumari.

A lecturer in the department, Nirmala Rani, agreed it is difficult to do practical work in such huge groups.

?Many students are unable to understand because of the class strength,? she said and added, ?Especially those students who are sitting in the back benches of the class are unable to understand the practical work that is being taught.?

Head of the department, Vimla Srivastava, said there are no problems as far as theory classes are concerned. But it is an entierly a different matter when it comes to the practical sessions.

Because of the big number of students in the class, the practicals are getting hampered, she said and added the equipment required for practicals are adequate but the absence of a lab has made things difficult.

Moreover, the department has only three teachers, though there is a sanction for five, said Srivastava. One teacher had retired on April 30th.

Lecturer Nimala Devi said the problem is further aggravated due to the frequent changes in the syllabus.

?The syllabus has changed four times, since I have joined. For the honours-level students also there have been changes in syllabus four times. Though we are updated with the changes the new books are not immediately available,? she said and added the lack of teachers is not helping the situation either.

Students are, without a doubt, getting affected because of these problems.

Poonam, a student of the department said she is taking private coaching for practicals, as she is unable to understand it properly when taught in class.

?It is possible to score good marks in practicals and so it has become important to understand the subject properly,? she added.

Srivastava?s only saving grace is that the department does not have a post-graduation section.

?We are having lesser problems, as far as practical sessions are concerned, because the department does not have an MA section. Else, things would have been really difficult to manage,? added Srivastava.