Inadequate facilities hit fine arts faculty at RU
Several departments of the fine arts faculty of Rajasthan University are grappling with inadequate learning props or facilities, ranging from inadequate storage area for paintings to lack of security in theatres.
The heads of various departments in the faculty said since the study of fine arts is markedly different from other disciplines, special attention needs to be accorded to these departments.
The fine arts faculty consists of four departments — Department of Drawing and painting, Department of Music, Department of Dramatics and Department of Visual Arts.
While the departments have been hamstrung by want of enough teachers, lack of other facilities such as storage area for art works, art-gallery and provision of proper servicing of musical instruments, costumes, as well as lack of proper upkeep of stage props are other inadequacies faced by the departments.
The heads of departments of the faculty said that in the light of a noticeable spurt in admissions over the last few years, the existing number of seats for various courses was augmented by 10%.
Madhu Bhatt Tailang, the head of the music department, said that while the student strength in the department grew by leaps and bounds over the last few years, funds for procuring musical instruments dried up.
“We do receive funds from the university to fix minor damages to our instruments. However, fixing major damages to our instruments or procuring new ones on a day-to-day basis is impossible with the funds at our disposal,” Tailang said.
JAIPUR:
Bhatt said that with not enough appointed faculty members, guest lecturers have to be called in to teach the students. However, even guest lecturers are seldom willing to oblige because of the measly ₹250 to ₹500 that they are paid per lecture. Such is the faculty crunch that the departments are grappling with that an electronic table has been procured to fill in for a teacher and instil rhythm sense in the students.
Several paintings, sculptures and other art works by students have been gathering dust lying in the corners for want of better storage space.
IU Khan, head of the drawing and painting department, said that a demand for a proper storage facility for paintings, as well as a gallery for students to showcase their art works, has been raised with the authorities concerned.
The departments also seemed to be facing problems in fulfilling the diverse subject requirements like that of a human model and clay moulding studio assistant. Assistant professor of sculpture, visual arts department, TJ Kavoor said that the students have a hard time learning in absence of a proper library, studio assistant and sculpture storage spaces.
“Moreover, a meagre sum of ₹75 per session is provided to the human model invited for a sculpting class,” said Kavoor. “The discipline of visual arts has different sets of requirements and should not be treated as per uniform norms for all other subjects,” Kavoor added.
Head of the visual arts department, Sumit Sen, said that the unavailability of an art history teacher has been a perpetual problem too.
The department of dramatics is also in utter neglect, as equipment to set the stage are left in the open. Archana Srivastava, the head of the department, said that often, unscrupulous elements barge into the open air theatre and leave broken beer bottles in their wake.
“We need more security for the department. We have enough classrooms, but not enough teachers,” she said.