Siliguri, July 29: Women’s Polytechnic College at Dabgram will not be the exclusive domain of women anymore.

The college’s governing body decided at a meeting today that boys can take admission to the institution from this academic session.

The number of students at the college, the only one for women’s technical education, in north Bengal has been dwindling for some time.

The college, which was set up in 1995, offers diploma courses in engineering (three years) and pharmacy (two years). The different engineering streams are computer science and applications, instrumentation technology, architecture and electronics and telecommunication.

The college first began functioning at rented premises in Pradhannagar, but shifted to a sprawling campus at Dabgram in 1998. The new campus, including a hostel, was built by the government at a cost of around Rs 20 crore.

But neither the impressive building nor the sprawling lawns and hostel facilities could attract students for the courses, which lost sheen over the years.

“A government order served on July 14 asked the college to admit boys from the current academic session. There are 210 seats in engineering and 40 in pharmacy, but over the years we have noticed that only about 50 per cent of the seats are filled up. The infrastructure and state-of-the-art facilities are being wasted as few students take admission. A decision has therefore been taken to admit boys,” said Motilal Chakraborty, the principal.

Moreover, “boys in the area are often denied the chance to pursue technical courses as there is no other college of this kind close by”, Chakraborty said.