BENGALURU: At the rate in which professors are retiring, it won’t be a surprise if the vacancy rate goes above 75 per cent in the next five to six years, say experts.
They fear that the delay exercised by the government in appointing new professors along with the meagre allocation of funds for Higher Education Department will only make the situation worse in the near future.
The government should stop its practice of ad-hoc response by appointing inexperienced guest lecturers, and ensure that experienced staff members are hired to train students in emerging sectors.
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Speaking to TNIE, B G Bhaskar, president of Federation of University and College Teacher’s Association of Karnataka said that the government has not decided to fill any vacancies after a post became vacant due to retirement. “Even if they decide to hire now, it will take two years to fill the vacant posts,” he said.
In order to address the problem, the State hires inexperienced guest lecturers and exploits the post graduate students willing to pursue teaching profession, he said.
According to Prof K C Venugopal, vice chancellor of Bangalore University, authorities are forced to manage with the resources provided to them. “The governments should realise that apart from managing colleges in its limits, varsities are also supposed to be research institutions, ,” he said.
‘Fill sanctioned posts’
Considering how new disciplines are emerging every day, the State should actually be creating new posts, opined Prof M S Thimmappa, former VC.
“It should fill the sanctioned posts at least,” he said. Noting that teaching staff have not been hired for the past ten years, he said that guest lecture system introduced as a temporary fix has now become a malady. Higher Education Minister G T Devegowda was unavailable for comment.