36 per cent faculty positions in eight IITs remain vacant

Thirty six per cent of sanctioned posts for faculty members at eight IITs in the country are lying vacant, an RTI response has revealed. 
IIT-Delhi (File | PTI)
IIT-Delhi (File | PTI)

NEW DELHI: Thirty six per cent of sanctioned posts for faculty members at eight IITs in the country are lying vacant, an RTI response has revealed. 

Currently, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) at Mumbai, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Chennai, Roorkee and Varanasi have 65,824 students. However, there are only 4,049 teachers against the approved 6,318 posts. 

At present, there is one teacher for every 16 students, The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry gave this in response to a query by RTI activist Chandrashekhar Gaud based out of Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh.

According to the reply, IIT (BHU) Varanasi had 52 per cent of its posts vacant. While there are 548 sanctioned posts for faculty members, only 265 were occupied. 

With 5,485 students enrolled, IIT (BHU) Varanasi had the worst shortfall among the IITs. Educationist Jayantilal Bhandari said, “The number of IITs in the country has reached 23 now. It is worrisome that these eight major and among the oldest IITs are still facing teacher shortage.”

The situation is likely to be worse in the IITs which are relatively new, said Bhandari.

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