National 7 (Spotlight Weekly)

Lessening Glory

ASCOL, the first science teaching college in the heart of Katmandu, with the legacy of forty-seven years, stands unnoticed to policy makers

By AKSHAY SHARMA

Modern science began during the 15th century when people started to investigate nature and invent new horizons to the history’s well-known path, by inventing ways of investigating nature where abundance of discoveries have been made which later on changed the world itself.

Realizing the immense significance of science, Amrit Science College (ASCOL) was set up nearly five decades ago. ASCOL was the first college where students would come through out Nepal to study science.

However, the old boys wonder – have glory days of ASCOL ended with the mushrooming of so many privately-run colleges in the Katmandu Valley.

ASCOL : Greater attention wanted

“It’s good to catch old and new and familiar stories of ASCOL,” said Mohan Chand, a medical doctor in the USA, also an ex- student of ASCOL to SPOTLIGHT. “ To hear that the new colleges have brought the bad days for ASCOL and the only science studying college in Nepal is demoralizing, makes us very sad and disappointed.”

“But there is always a catch to even the mightiest of questions or answers. The first catch being that scientists are humans too. And some of them will do stupid things and mendacious things. The second catch and the important one you cannot cheat time”, says a keen observer and an ex student of ASCOL.

ASCOL celebrated it’s 46th Annual Celebrations this year. Talking to SPOTLIGHT around the issues of the lost glory of ASCOL Madan Shakya, the campus chief had said, “There are many guidelines set by the Tribhuwan University (TU) that we have to follow with the scarce budget that TU provides us. Because we are a science college we have to buy chemical supplies for our students. During the 1970s this was run privately so discussions and decisions were made here. But as TU has to grant us the budget – discussions are held with them. I also am an ASCOL graduate and it’s so sad to see the dripping ceilings. During the 1970’s the tuition was low, to enroll into BSC you had to pay Rs 60 per month. There may have been 450 to 500 BSC students in the building in the 1970’s but there are 1600 students under the same infrastructure now. We still charge the student the same. Tuition fees being too low, it is hard to make things meet.”

He adds that, “ The growth of new private colleges has not even challenged the glory of ASCOL. People come from all over the country and ASCOL has not been equipped to handle the exodus of students that range from fifteen to twenty thousand.” The private colleges thus were able to absorb the growing number of students.

Mukesh Chhetri, an assistant Campus Chief, also worries about the financial state of the college. “We have had problems buying simple items like dusters and chalks. Since we have to provide practical training in labs, we need more money and resources.”

“We are currently running two programs in environmental sciences where the fees are a little high - to about a thousand rupees and three hundred rupees respectively. It costs about Rs 75 per month to re-enroll into the college. Perhaps TU should think about decentralizing its actions so that ASCOL can make its ends meet on its own. Other option may be to privatize it. We are also expecting some charity from ex students. The spirit seems to be there,” he adds.