With Pre-University exams around the corner, as of January, 820 posts of lecturers are vacant in government PU colleges across the state, according to the latest vacancy list issued by the Department of PU Education.
While the state government or the Central Admission Cell (CAC) in this case is about to finish the previous round of recruitment for 1,764 lecturer posts, these 820 posts are said to have become vacant since April 2012, after a notification for the 1,764 posts was issued.
More than 40 per cent of the vacant posts are in Science stream. While Physics has 85 posts vacant, Chemistry has 78, Mathematics has 92 and Biology the highest, with 111 lecturers posts vacant. The Arts stream too has vacancies, with Kannada the highest with 156 posts, followed by Economics, 78, History, 77, and English, 75. Posts are vacant in 14 subjects totally.
“Many posts are vacant due to promotions,” said Chakravarthy Mohan, commissioner, PU Education. “The last round of the recruitment is in police verification stage. We hope to fill up the previous vacancies by the start of the academic year,” he added.
Thimmaiah Purle, president, Karnataka State PU Lecturers’ Association, welcomed the state government’s decision to recruit 1,764 lecturers. However, he points out that ‘irrational’ recruitment of lecturers has led to a rural-urban imbalance. “The government sanctioned posts when there was a requirement in rural PU colleges. Now, there are lecturers in rural colleges, when there is a requirement in urban PU colleges too,” Purle said, adding that the present vacancy has led to problems in teaching.
Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri told Express that guest lecturers have been roped in to ensure there is no problems ahead of the exams. “We will fill up the vacancies as and when personnel retire. For these 820 posts, we will begin the recruitment process in the coming days,” he said.