Edu institutes lack teaching staff

Edu institutes lack teaching staff

PUNE: The educational institutions in Maharashtra have been facing a shortage of teaching staff, yet no recruitments are allowed. While the State government has opened the window for recruiting principals, but it has not lifted the ban on appointment of professors at universities and colleges.

This has badly affected the teaching process in the universities besides internal assessments and evaluation of exam papers. At present, there are 9,000 vacancies for professors posts in Maharashtra, said the Director of Higher Education (DHE), Dhanraj Mane. “We have sent a proposal to open the recruitment procedure against the vacant posts for professors but the government has not responded yet,” said Mane.

According to sources, in the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), out of 386 teaching positions, only 218 are filled while 168 are still vacant.

“It’s been a decade since these posts are lying vacant. There would be more than 9,000 vacancies for professors. It is interesting to note that, as the government has given the green signal for the recruitment of the principals, DHE has now proposed to start procedures to fill professors posts ahead of the 2019 elections. However, it is not clear how many posts will be filled as the procedure for recruitment is long,” said Sanjeev Sonawane, Head of Education and Extension Department at SPPU.

“So many vacancies clearly reflects the inadequacy of teaching staff in colleges and this impacts students’ education. Also, colleges have visiting faculties teaching on clock hour basis, who fail to provide quality education, as they only aim to complete the hours. Moreover, these professors can only evaluate student’s internal assessments, as they are not authorised to evaluate external examinations. Therefore, universities or colleges have to hunt for approved professors from different universities and colleges to evaluate papers and this process leads to delay in declaring results, thereby affecting students and their evaluation,” said Sonawane.

Generally, the State government issues a no-objection certificate (NOC) to colleges and universities to fill the vacant posts of teachers. However, since 2011, the State government had stalled the new appointments of professors and had not created any new posts. In 2017, the government had completely blocked the new appointments. 

Sonawane stated that the ban on appointment was imposed due to the financial crisis in the State.

PROTEST BY SET, NET CANDIDATES
- Meanwhile, in the backdrop of State government’s ban on appointment of new professors, irked candidates, who appeared for State Eligibility Test (SET) and National Eligibility Test (NET) examinations, and PhD holders, staged a protest near SPPU main building on Wednesday. Around 20 candidates have given a letter to Vice-Chancellor Nitin Karmalkar stating that their degrees hold no value because none of them have got placed at any aided or unaided colleges, hence they wish to return their degrees.
- The candidates have stated that for past four years, they have been struggling to find a job despite holding several degrees. “I have got a chance to give an interview at two aided colleges and few unaided colleges as well. But they mostly have offered to pay Rs 7,000-8,000 salary,” said Mahabir Sabale.
- The candidates have sarcastically kept five demands such as allowing them to put up juice or eatery stalls on a university campus or asking the government to provide a license for setting up an alcohol shop or permit them to steal Rs 25,000 if government cannot provide jobs.

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