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Teachers handle double workload as varsity faces staff crunch

Last Updated 18 January 2021, 17:36 IST

The University of Mysore (UoM), one of the oldest universities in the country, is facing severe staff crunch. The varsity authorities have approached the state government, seeking approval to fill the vacant posts.

The varsity has less than 50% staff. Thus, it affects the quality of education. With shortage in teaching staff, not only students, but, research and other academics works are affected.

The varsity has a total of 664 sanctioned posts and 365 have already retired. Another 14 will retire soon and thus, only 285 posts are filled, while 379 posts are vacant. Two guest faculty members are working in place of one permanent teaching faculty, said UoM Vice-Chancellor G Hemantha Kumar.

The government had approved to fill 76 backlog posts, 54 Hyderabad Karnataka and 150 general category post. But, the order was withdrawn following the outbreak of Covid-19. Now, the varsity has sent a communication to the government and the proposal likely to be approved, the VC said.

“We are going for National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and the student teachers ratio should be 1:15 or 1:10. But the varsity has 1:30 ratio and it is inevitable to fill the vacant posts to get good ranking,” he said.

An officer said that the varsity authorities have made several attempts to fill the vacant post, but, the government did not show interest.

A retired professor, who wished to maintain anonymity said that the staff crunch severely affects quality of the varsity. "It is high-time, the authorities appoint quality teaching faculty to maintain the dignity of the varsity. With the staff crunch, research activities have declined and workload for available staff has increased. The students, who have enrolled for research, are facing problems, to get research guide. The existing teachers are overburdened with more students," he said.

The guest faculty claim of heavy work load. A guest faculty said, "As per the norms, a guest faculty works for only eight to 12 hours a week, while a full-time faculty works a minimum of 16 hours. However, the guest faculty are made to work almost double. I am working for 25 hours and is also deputed on examination duty several times. We are working for minimum salaries.”

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(Published 18 January 2021, 17:32 IST)

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