Beginnings of the second term: Rigorous academic schedules of the first term, blended with games, sports, literary and cultural activities, culminating in the annual week celebrations and prize distribution had provided considerable help in moulding the motley group of young, energetic and aspiring bunch of lads into a hardened group of students determined to surge ahead, hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder. They had a clear vision of what was expected of them and they had the will and determination to do all that was needed. The annual examinations were expected to be held in May 1956. The over-riding emphasis was to finish all coursework , well in time and to utilize the last two to three weeks for brushing up and for intensive preparation of the students for the examination. All lectures were supplemented by detailed write-ups, so that, there was free time in the class to enable the teachers to have sufficient interaction with the students and clarification of their hazy ideas and doubts. Weekly tests were open book tests to enable the students to make the best possible utilization of available time. Tutorials were provided for making the students familiar with all types of questions, that, they were likely to face in the examinations of the board in May 1956. For practicals and fieldwork it was ensured that every student had sufficient equipment and time to perform the practicals independently.
Examining body: Before independence, Civil Engineering School, Lucknow and Hewett Engineeeing School Lucknow were the only private engineering schools running overseer’s certificate courses in civil engineering in U. P. Apart from the Lucknow schools, the University of Roorkee was the only other institution running overseer’s certificate course in civil enginneeing in U.P. Duration of these courses was two years. Hwever, during that period, director of industries of U.P. was running electrical and mechanical engineering supervisor’s certificate courses in government technical institutes of the state. That was the time, when the Ministry of Scientific Research and Cultural Affairs of the Government of India commenced working on streamlining the whole system. The duration of all certificate and supervisor level courses of the country was made three years and they were renamed as diploma courses in civil engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and so on.. The institutions running these courses in the country were renamed as polytechnics, e.g., Lucknow Polytechnic and Allahabad Polytechnic. A model constitution for all such polytechnics was also issued by the ministry of SRCA of the government of India for proper running and academic functioning of these institutions. Ministry of SRCA linked all these measures with recognition of the institutions and sanction of development grants by Government of India. At the same time, all states were advised to constitute State Boards of Technical Education for academic inspections, development of courses and conduct of examinations and Directorates of Technical Education for looking after the financial, administrative and development activities of the institutions.
In U.P. the state government had constituted an Ad-hoc Board of Technical Education with the vice-chancellor of the University of Roorkee as chairman and the registrar of the University of Roorkee as controller of examinations. Since, Civil Engineering School Lucknow and Hewett Engineering School Lucknow were the only schools running overseer’s certificate courses in civil engineering at that time, the courses being followed by University of Roorkee for two years overseer’s certificate course were introduced in Lucknow schools along with common examinations with Roorkee for first year and final year of the courses. Since, Civil Engineering School Allahabad was the only new institution established in UP after independence, the institution started following the courses prescribed by the Ad-hoc Board of Technical Education UP for first year of the Overseer’s certificate course in civil Engineering and applied to the board for affiliation and conduct of examinations. Directorate of Technical Education was subsequently constituted in U.P. and a statutary Board of Technical Education was constituted in U.P. in 1962. Consequently, Civil Engineering School Allahabad was renamed as Allahabad Polytechnic in 1962 and as Institute of Engineering and Rural Technology in 1982.
Rai Bahadur Ajudhya Nath Khosla: Rai Bahadur Ajudhya Nath Khosla was born at Delhi in the year 1892. He graduated as a civil engineer from Thomason College of Civil Engineering Roorkee, sometime in 1915, entered the Indian Service of Engineers and was allotted to the irrigation department of undivided Punjab. During that period, he had an opportunity for working on a number of major projects, where the old irrigation structures were giving trouble and based on his observations and the data collected by him, he wrote a paper titled as “ Design of weirs on sand foundations”, which became an internationally recognized work. Fortunately for him, during his later years, he had the unique opportunity for dismantling some of those old works and redesign and build them in accordance with his theory. Rai Bahadur AN Khosla became Chief Engineer of Punjab Irrigation Department in 1943. Thereafter, he served as Chairman of Central Water, Irrigation and Navigation Commission from 1946 to 1952 (subsequently known as Central Water and Power Commission) and had a big hand in the development of river valley projects of the country during the post war period, including Bhakra, Damodar Valley and Hirakund and the irrigation research station at Khadakwasla. He worked as the Vice-chancellor of the University of Roorkee from 1954 to 1959 and as the governor of Orissa from 1962 to 1968.
Trip to Roorkee: My trip to Roorkee revived all the memories of the good old days of Thomason College of Civil Engineering and the hectic schedules from early hours of the morning to late hours at night. The massive building of the college, built in colonial style was still standing majestically, serving as a monument to the tremendous contribution made by Thomason College to the development and growth of the country. With the establishment of the University of Roorkee, there were perceptible signs of all-round growth and development. The student strength, which used to be hovering round hundred, had gone up to three thousand. The barracks having six rooms and associated conveniences, which served as our residences were replaced by multi-storeyed hostels. A number of courses in specialized branches of engineering and basic and applied sciences had come up. There was a regular flow of teachers to the universities of UK and USA for advanced studies. Most of the departments were sitting in spacious multi-level departmental buildings, with all the facilities and conveniences. All laboratories and workshops were liberally provided with futuristic equipment and gadgets. All students and most of the members of the staff had sufficient residential accommodation on the campus. The main building, which was the centre of most of the academic activities during our days at Thomason College was serving as the administrative block of the University of Roorkee. The front of the building was neatly maintained and provided no inkling of the tremendous changes that were going on in the campus, serving as a bold reminder of the past. The central dome of the building and the rooms under the dome were also the same. The room under the dome, where hung the name plate of principal of Thomason College was replaced by that of the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Roorkee. It was here, that, I had the privilege of meeting the distinguished and hallowed vice-chancellor of the University of Roorkee. Rai Bahadur Ajudhya Nath Khosla who was twice my age, greeted me with all the fraternal feelings and humility and listened to me patiently for about half an hour about the activities of Civil Engineering School Allabhabad. When I ended, he told me that the ad-hoc board of technical education had already taken a decision for provisional affiliation of Civil Engineering School Allahabad and to conduct the examinations of first year students of the institution.
First year examinations conducted by the board: The controller of examinations of the ad-hoc board of technical education was at Allahabad during April 1956. He visited all the facilities available at Civil Engineering School Allahabad and had an opportunity to talk to the students and the staff. He prepared a panel of internal and external examiners, in consultation with the staff for the conduct of practical examinations and thereafter, visited the local government intermediate college for finalizing sitting arrangements for the conduct of written examinations of theory papers. The examinations were subsequently held in the third week of May 1956 alongwith the examinations of overseer certificate classes of university of Roorkee and two Lucknow schools. The result was declared in the local papers in July 1956 bringing cheer on the faces of everybody. Incidentally, the successful launch of Civil Engineering School Allahabad in the year 1955, opened the flood gates for the establishment of a large number of new engineering institutions all over the state of U.P.