Whoever said higher education is facing shortage of teachers must spare a moment to see what is happening at the music departments of Bangalore and Mysore Universities. What they need are, not teachers, but students.
In Bangalore University, the music department has five students enrolled for first year post-graduate course and nine students for the second year. According to BU sources, there are nine teachers, of which, three are full-fledged faculty members and remaining are guest faculty. Out of five students, two have enrolled for instrument - veena and three for vocal. Which means, there are three students for Vocal in the first year, and much more teachers.

The situation in Mysore University is equally bad, say sources there. The number of students enrolled for the first year PG course is nine and those in the second year are 11.The faculty in the Music Department are five, and of them, two are guest lecturers.

The problem with fewer students is that if students bunk a class or two, then the  teachers will return home without work. Senior BU University officials say that the University can efficiently deploy funds and make the music teaching meaningful.

They recollect the way the government deployed teachers from one private college to another when teachers were found to be in excess in private aided PU colleges a few years ago.

The officials reason that full-time faculty is not required at all in universities, and everyone can be a guest teacher. A full-time teacher draws a salary upwards of Rs 40,000 and does little by way of contribution. The situation is even more horrible in dance and drama sections of Bangalore University, a student said, unwilling to be identified.

The official suggested that the University could depart from running the music departments and restrict itself to only framing the syllabus and conducting the annual exams.

“Let the students learn in private schools and take up the exams conducted by the university. This will not only save money, spent on salary and administration, but will also net some revenue for universities,” the official added.

Prof R N Srilatha, Professor of Vocal Music, in Mysore University, however, maintains that the faculty in her department is not restricted to teaching PG courses alone. They also teach for undergraduate students. “We have 50 hours of teaching period allotted for master's degree. In other words, 25 hours of teaching is allotted for each class. It's difficult to handle all the class with just two teachers as the syllabus are vast.''

According to her, the reason for the decline in the enrolment of students is the proliferation of private music schools.

“There are many private institutions, which offer learning at one's convenience.”

BU Vice Chancellor Prof H A Ranganath told Deccan Herald that the purpose of recruiting guest faculty is to decrease the workload of the regular teachers. “The guest teachers are recruited for specialised subjects for which expertise may not be available in the department.”

He, however, said he would take it up with the department heads about the regular teachers being recruited in excess.

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