Help Yourself: Eight such hostels will be erected at a cost of Nu 74 mn by this June

Self Catering Hostels 13 February, 2010 - Besides usual academic learning, one of the preferred measures of teaching students practical management skills was by allowing students to care for themselves.

In its effort to live up to its motto of teaching students basic management skills, Sherubtse college in Kanglung has decided to build four three-storied self-catering houses in the campus II area for students.

“When we talk of self catering, it’s not just about cooking,” said the dean of students affairs Tshering Wangdi. “It entails a lot of management activities.”

He explained that, when students lived in a self-catering hostel, they were forced to learn time management and plan finance efficiently.

Since December 2009, of 936 total students, 428 live in four self-catering hostels, one of which was for boys.

Students availing the self-catering facilities are provided Nu 1000 each a month for grocery shopping.

Eight self-catering hostels will be erected following the completion of the almost Nu 74 mn budgeted hostels by this June. That is an increase by almost seven such hostels compared with just one in 2004.

Until 2007, students on half-scholarships lived as day-scholars, renting houses in the nearby settlements. “We stopped the day-scholar facility in 2008,” the college’s administrative officer, Kezang Namgyal said. “Since then all students have been staying within the campus in self-catering hostels.”

Tshering Wangdi said students availing the self-catering facilities were expected to emphasise more time on studies as they would be saved the trouble of going to the mess for meals. The college is also looking at keeping limited numbers of students using the college mess, which today is over pressured.

College officials also said that the college dining hall, designed to fit in only 250 students, today catered to more than 420 students. “We had to roster students on a shift basis,” the administrative officer said. “If more students stay in self-catering, that problem will be solved.”

However, a few residents in and around the college campus, who built houses to rent it out to college students, said the self-catering facilities botched their business plans. “Earlier, I used to earn about Nu 1,500 a month,” a houseowner near Thragom village said. “Now, with the new housing facilities the college is providing, will leave our houses vacant.”

But most feel that self-catering was introduced to curb problems in the locality.

Tshering Wangdi said that the facility was introduced because most of the hostels were empty in 2008, while students were paying a lot to rent a house outside. “A few students approached the college and we decided to introduce it,” he said.

The four under construction hostels are among six buildings that will be constructed in the tenth five-year plan.

Since the upcoming hostel, located near upper market, is detached from the college, recreational facilities like the central cafeteria with internet services, volleyball and basketball courts are also in the pipeline.