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Nawab Sirajuddaula Government College in Natore faces problem in properly imparting education to its students because of shortage of teachers and classroom crisis.
   College sources said they find it very difficult to run the academic activities
   with only 54 teachers for more than 6,500 students including around 2,000 females.
   The college provides higher secondary education, degree (pass), honours course on 12 subjects and master’s course on nine subjects.
   To properly impart education to this large number of students, the college needs 50 more teachers including lecturer, assistant professor, associate professor and professor, college sources said.
   Apart from teacher shortage, the public college severely runs short of classrooms for its students as it has only one academic building having 20 classrooms.
   Everyday many students cannot attend their classes due to shortage of rooms, the sources said adding that at least 30 more classrooms are needed to smoothly run classes.
   The accounting department of the college is in the worst situation as it has only four teachers for 840 students.
   The English department is running with only four teachers against its total number of 480 students.
   The college authorities very often have to hire teachers from different
   private colleges for taking classes, the sources added.
   The classroom crisis is so acute that during any examination, the college authorities have to keep suspended all classes.
   Some teachers and students while talking to New Age said the authorities concerned should immediately address the problems to ensure proper education at the college.
   The college is also facing residential problem. There are only two hostels— one for males having the capacity to accommodate 95 students and another for 100 female students.
   The college principal, Professor Mayen Uddin Ahmed, told New Age that the education ministry had sanctioned 16 computers and other education-related materials for a computer laboratory.
   ‘But we are yet to get separate building for setting up a computer lab,’ he added.
   The principal said he had written several times to the ministry to informing it of the problems including teacher shortage.
   The college has adequate land for construction of new academic building, he said.
   The college was established on 11 acres of land in Natore town in 1956 and it was nationalised in 1980.
   The honors course was introduced in 1996 with just only departments — accounting and Islamic history.

A human chain was formed on the bank of the River Chitra in Narail on Sunday demanding immediate steps to save the river, lifeline of the district.
   The Nadi Bachao Andalon Committee, Narail, organised the human chain programme.
   People from all walks of life took part in the hour-long programme that began at about 10:00am.
   The human chain was followed by a rally where the speakers called on the authorities to save the river from pollution and continued encroachment.
   Indiscriminate dumping of industral wastes and continued encroachment poses threat to the existence of the river, they said.
   The speakers demanded immediate initiatives to demolish all the illegal structures set up on the river banks.
   They also criticised the authorities concerned for negligence in pulling down of illegal structures on the river banks.
   They urged local people living near the riverside to launch massive movement against the encroachers as the government had done a little in this regard.
   Professore Munshi Hafizur Rahman, Advocate Abdul Matin, Warker’s Party’s district president advocate Seikh Hafizur Rahman, Narail sadar upazila vice-chairman Salma Rahman Kabita, Jatio Party’s district secretary Sharif Munir Hossain, district ex-education officer Dilera Begum, journalist Kartik Das, executive director of Shabolombi, local NGO, Sharif Munir Hossain and advocate Rama Rani, among others, took part in the programme.
   They also suggested formation of a committee to check pollution of the river.

Most of the dwellers in the Mymensingh municipality are out of water supply coverage and those who are under the supply network never get water round the clock, a study showed.
   Only 22 per cent of the dwellers have access to the municipality water supply while the rest 78 per cent collect water from other sources, revealed the study of VOICE, a research group.
   The study showed that a large number of dwellers are pilfering water through illegal connections as corruption and mismanagement in water supply go rampant in the municipality.
   ‘The municipality supplies water only for four hours a day, leaving the dwellers in serious problems,’ Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, executive director of VOICE, said revealing the findings of study.
   He said the study was carried out recently to assess the current state of people’s access to safe drinking water in Mymensingh municipality.
   Around 25 per cent respondents said, they fell victims to fake bills while 90 per cent of them complained about irregular supply of water. Most of them also had complaints about safety of the supplied water.
   A discussion on the research findings was held at the SUPRO office on Tuesday. A documentary tiled ‘Troubled Waters: Water Sector Transparency and Accountability’ was screened.
   The study report recommended formation of citizens’ committee with participation of commoners in the management system and formulation of citizens’ charters.
   The participants observed that the authorities concerned should work out a mechanism to ensure transparency and accountability in water supply management and delivery of safe water for all dwellers of the municipality.
   Uma Chowdhury, director of SUPRO, Farjana Akter of VOICE, Al Razi, M Zakaria and Mousumi Biswas took part in the discussion.

At least 12 persons were injured in a clash between two groups over a cricket match at Goalkandi of Shibchar in Madaripur Monday.
   The police and witnesses said two groups of people of Goalkandi and Mridharkandi used lethal weapons during the clash which left at least 12 persons of both the groups injured.
   Seriously injured Mizan Mridha, 22, Rahima Aktar, 28, Saidul Fakir, 22, and Mahbub, 18, were sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and seven others were sent to Shibchar General Hospital.
   A case was filed with the police.

A suspected thief was beaten to death at Char Shayempur in Rajshahi on Tuesday.
   The vicrim was identidied as Jalal Uddin, 40.
   The police said local people caught Jalal Uddin and his younger brother Gausul Alam when they were suspiciously walking in the area.
   They severely beat up the two resulting in the death of Jalal on the spot.
   On information, the came and rescued Gausul. He was admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital in a critical condition.
   The police also arrested seven people in this connection.
   The arrested are Echer Ali, Shamsul Haque, Faizur Rahman, Hanif, Lokeman, Mithu and Motiran
   Begum. A case was filed with the police.

The police on Monday seized a foreign revolver along with six rounds of bullets and arrested two persons at Charabari Bazar under Tangail sadar upazila on Monday.
   The arrested are Nurul Islam, 22, and Ridoy Ahmed, 20, of Sakrail under Tangail municipality.
   The officer-in-charge of sadar police station, Md Jasimuddin Sarker said on information, they conducted a raid on Charabari Bazar and nabbed the two.
   A police team, led by sub-inspector Kaji Sahan Haque and sub-inspector Bahalul Khan, went to the spot and arrested the two. Others managed to get away sensing the presence of law enforcers.
   A case was filed with the police in this connection.

The police recovered the body of a female NGO employee from a jute field at village Dadpur in Faridpur Monday morning.
   The deceased is Seuly Akter, 32, an assistant accountant of Social Development Committee, a local NGO.
   The police recovered the body and sent it to Faridpur General Hospital morgue for post-mortem examination.
   The victim’s husband Abdus Sabur has remained ansconding since the incident.
   Barek Mollah, father of the deceased, filed a case with Boalmari police station accusing five persons.
   The police arrested two persons in this connection.
   They are Ranju Sardar, 23, and Bikul Sardar, 21, of the village.

A Patuakhali court on Tuesday sentenced a man to life-term imprisonment for for drug peddling.
   The court also fined the convict Shafiul Azam, 35, of Nurainpur at Bauphal of district, Tk 5,000, in default, to serve two years more in jail.
   According to the prosecution, Rapid Action Battalion members raided the house of Shafiul at Goalbari of Bauphal on September 28, 2006 arrested Shafiul along with 270 grams of heroin.