Severe staff crunch witnessed in the Universities including Utkal University, the oldest University in Odisha, has put paid to the quality of education in the State.
If a reply to an RTI query is anything to go by, the professor posts in almost all the departments of Berhampur University are lying vacant.
In the Chemistry department, there should have been six teaching staff. But for years together, only three assistant professors are managing the show.
The situation of the Computer Science department is no better as well. Instead of nine staff, the department has only four assistant professors.
In the university, of the 24 professor posts, 14 posts are lying vacant. Similarly, of the 196 sanctioned teaching posts, 86 posts are lying vacant.
“As we have more number of students, we are facing difficulties in managing the situation. The problems are innumerable. As we have a shortage of staff, we are not being able to publish results on time which gives rise to several other problems,” said Professor Gitanjali Das, Vice Chancellor, Berhampur University.
In Utkal University, the total number of sanctioned teaching staff posts is 257 while around 50 percent of them are lying vacant. As many as 129 posts have been lying vacant for years together.
About the situation at Rama Devi Women’s University, the least said the better. Out of the 138 sanctioned posts including those of professors, associate professors, and assistant professors, 79 are vacant.
Similarly, contractual professors are managing the scene at Ravenshaw University in Cuttack. Despite the authorities taking up the issue with the state government on several occasions, no step has so far been taken to ameliorate the situation. Here, 120 posts are lying vacant.
In Fakir Mohan University in Balasore and Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanjadeo University in Baripada, 43 out of 117 posts and 76 out of 115 posts are lying vacant respectively.
“As 49 percent of the total teaching posts are vacant, teaching at the university has largely been affected. To impart quality education to students, the first step is the recruitment of staff,” said Sabita Acharya, Vice Chancellor, Utkal University.
Expressing her concern, Aparajita Choudhary, Vice Chancellor of Rama Devi Women’s University said, “We are running the university with contractual staff.”
At the same time, the students are also worried about their careers. “The quality of education in almost all the universities is declining,” said Satyasiba Mohanty, a student.
When asked, Higher Education Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak said, “The recruitment process was initiated in the past. This week, we are going to recruit some lecturers through counselling.”