Daily Times

The classical historical building of C&S Government Degree College was designed by Mr. K.V Joshi, Engineer, and was constructed under the supervision of Mr. San. I. (London), Chief Officer Municipality Shikarpur. The building is one of the few landmarks of Shikarpur’s cultural heritage. Among various contributors, the main donors of the college were Chella Singh, banker of Shikarpur, who donated Rs.78000 (Seventy Eight Thousand Rupees), and Sital Das, banker and exchange broker of Bombay, who contributed Rs.100000 (one lakh). It was constructed with an approximate cost of Rs.300000 (three lakh rupees). The details of expenditures incurred on the construction of various blocks of the college were:

Main building = Rs.90000 (Ninety Thousand Rupees)

Hostel (both North & South blocks) = Rs.65000 (Sixty Five Thousand Rupees)

Principal’s Bungalow = Rs.24000 (Twenty Four Thousand Rupees)

Laboratories = Rs.61000 (Sixty One Thousand Rupees)

Furniture = Rs. 20000 (Twenty Thousand Rupees)

Books = Rs.20000 (Twenty Thousand Rupees)

Other maintenance = Rs. 20000 (Twenty Thousand Rupees)

The college was named after its main contributors and founders as C&S Upper Sindh Arts College. On June 17, 1933, the opening ceremony of the College had taken place amidst scenes of unusual enthusiasm and great éclat. Mr H.T Sorley, I.C.S, the Collector of Sukkur, had performed the ceremony. It was affiliated with Bombay University. On June 20, 1937, due to the highly satisfactory performance shown by the institution, The Faculty of Science was introduced and science classes were initiated up to the intermediate level.

After the partition of the Indian subcontinent, the Sindh government took charge of the establishment, naming it C&S Government Science and Arts College Shikarpur. It was affiliated with the University of Sindh, Karachi, on June 21, 1948. The college was upgraded and graduate classes B.A (Pass & Hons) along with post-graduate classes in arts subjects including History, Economics and Muslim History were introduced. Post-graduate students were enrolled by the university and the classes were conducted within the college. Teachers of the college, who conducted graduate and post-graduate classes, were given the status of part-time teaching faculty members of the university.

When the University of Sindh was shifted from Karachi to Hyderabad in June, 1951, the college took into its own hands the teaching of post-graduate classes in July, 1954 and graduate classes in the year, 1956. The standard of the college was upgraded to that of a degree college from July, 1968-69 and was named C&S Government Degree College Shikarpur. At the moment, the college is a full-fledged degree college in both Arts and Science faculties with around 3000 students enrolled in intermediate, B.A and BSc classes.

During the 1930s, there was an overall number of 77 graduates in the whole of Sindh and it is due to this very establishment that 70 of them hailed from Shikarpur. The college is playing a constructive role in the development of education in the province and has produced an increasing number of scholars, lawyers, engineers, doctors, bureaucrats, educationists, poets, politicians and other high profile personalities. The college’s building is in deplorable condition and has been waiting for maintenance and repair for the survival of its originality.

The writer is an academic at C&S Govt Degree College Shikarpur and tweets at @ARShykh

Published in Daily Times, December 1^st 2017.