HYDERABAD: With the transfer of government degree college lecturers across the state on the verge of snowballing into a political issue, lectures opine that the problem arose because the department of collegiate education affected transfers and then reverted them without following the protocol of issuing any kind of notification or guidelines.
Against the required strength of 4,009, there are 3,147 lecturers working in government degree colleges in Telangana. Of these, 1,386 are regular, 898 are on contract and 863 are guest lecturers. This year as many as 1,060 of the regular lecturers have been transferred. With nearly 80 per cent of the lecturers being eligible for transfer, colleges that have large student strength have had to face the brunt.
“Already reeling under shortage of regular lecturers, when the transfers were effected big colleges in areas like Warangal, Siddipet and Mahbubnagar, which have a student strength of 1,500 to 2,000, were unable to function. As a result, 140 lecturers were sent back ‘on duty’ to their previous postings,” explained P Madhusudhan Reddy, vice-chairman, Telangana JAC of Employees, Teachers and Workers. A lecturer said on condition of anonymity that the unequal distribution of already scarce regular teaching staff grabbed more limelight because almost all of them have opted out of backward and rural areas to colleges in and around the state capital and at district headquarters. Some deliberately opt for such colleges with poor student strength, he said.
The Government Degree College at Siddipet, for example, has 26 regular lecturers and all had served the mandated five years and sought transfer to a college which has very less strength. Just between 200 and 300 students are admitted to this college usually every year. “In several colleges, the number of lecturers is in excess of the students there. There are 130-degree colleges in the state but all regular teachers are posted in just 25 to 30 colleges,” the lecturer disclosed.
The government degree college at Serilingampally is of two rooms but has a full strength of the staff. The one in Malkajgiri has no building or furniture and has a few students but the teaching staff is in place. Similar is the situation in colleges at Kukatpally, Ibrahimpatnam, Rajendranagar, Hayathnagar, Chevelle and even Warangal and other district headquarters.
The directorate of collegiate education, however, has come under fire for proceeding with the transfers despite knowing the teacher crunch and then not following any guidelines in shuffling them back to colleges which are facing the crunch.“The matter has now become political,” Reddy explained.