A few students who assembled at the entrance to Islampur College on Tuesday. Picture by Mehedi Hedaytullah

Islampur, Sept. 6: Islampur College has been hardly holding classes since it reopened on Thursday as almost all students are keeping away from the institution for fear of return of violence.

The college was shut down on August 27 following repeated clashes between the supporters of the Chhatra Parishad and the Trinamul Congress Chhatra Parishad over the control of the students’ union since July.

Even though the college was reopened on September 1 amid a huge police presence, hardly 50 students have been coming to attend classes since then. The college has a strength of 4,500 students and 25 teachers.

Today, there were about 100 boys and girls who had turned up to seek admission to under-graduate pass courses. Regular students were hardly around. Some of the students were seen whiling away time chatting in groups. The teachers also cooped themselves up in their staff rooms.

Most of the classrooms are under lock and key and the principal, U. Banerjee, is on leave for an unknown period.

Syed Akhtar, whose sister studies in UG third year, said she had gone to college today but had returned promptly. “She said she saw a few students at the college and it was practically empty. She felt uneasy and returned home. If this goes on, the students won’t have enough attendance to sit for exams,” he said.

Kajal Ranjan Biswas, who is now in charge of the college, admitted that attendance had been thin for the past two days. “I cannot tell you the exact number of students attending classes today. The principal is on leave and I cannot say anything more,” he said.

Ever since the new government had been formed, the CP and the TMCP have been vying with each other for the control of the student union. On July 18, the principal was assaulted by alleged CP members and a series of clashes and road blockades followed.

Although the SFI had won the union polls in January, all of its elected representatives switched over to either the CP or the TMCP after Mamata Banerjee became the chief minister.

Some members of the college governing body are upset that no meeting has taken place with a specific agenda to discuss the violence and the absence of students from classes.

“There was a governing body meeting yesterday, chaired by the Islampur subdivisional officer. But just a verbal decision was taken that if there was further violence on the campus, police and the administration would take legal steps,” said a member of the governing body.

However, SDO Partha Ghosh said no one had drawn his attention to the thin attendance at yesterday’s meeting. “We will have to discuss the matter with the college principal. If needed, we will hold a convention of teachers, students and guardians to bring back the proper academic atmosphere on the campus.”