NEW DELHI: There are approximately 36.5 per cent and 40.8 per cent of teaching positions vacant in 16 IITs and 30 NITs respectively.
Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani on Monday informed the Rajya Sabha that the reasons for faculty shortage are due to retirement, resignation, increase in students’ intake and non-availability of qualified candidates for taking up teaching assignments.
She said the institutes have been taking various initiatives to attract outstanding candidates for faculty positions. Some of these measures include open advertisements, holding of selection committee meetings through video conferencing, invitation to alumni, scientists and faculty to reach out to potential candidates . .
School Dropout Rate Declines
The number of out-of-school children in 6-14 years age group has considerably declined to 17.24 lakh in 2014 and the teacher pupil ratio in government schools is 1:29 at primary level and 1:32 at upper primary level, the Rajya Sabha was informed. Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani on Monday said that the states having the most out-of-school children are Rajasthan (2.98 lakh), Jharkhand (2.44 lakh), Bihar (1.81 lakh), Karnataka (1.81 lakh), Haryana (0.92 lakh) and Assam (0.88 lakh). She said that an amount of `339.97 crore has been sanctioned to states and UTs for providing special training centres for such children to impart flexible bridge courses to enable them to mainstream into schools subsequently.