BENGALURU: For yet another academic year, students will enter government colleges and varsities for graduate and post graduate courses without adequate teaching staff. Worse off, post graduate students will be in 19 varsities of our state, where almost half the teaching posts are empty. Though graduate colleges appear better off from varsities in terms of staff, there is a huge vacancy at the top with only 14 of the 410 principal posts filled (both grade 1 and 2). Experts feel that such continued apathy towards public educational institutions would accelerate their demise against competition from private varsities, apart from producing post graduates lacking essential skills.
Data from Higher Education Department shows that only Rani Chennamma University in Belagavi has close to adequate staff, as only 15 of the 120 sanctioned posts were vacant. Both Dr Gangubai Hanagal Music and Performing Arts University, Mysuru and Karnataka Folklore University in Haveri, have no permanent teaching staff hired till date, resulting in 100 per cent vacancy. The government after having announced the two, less than a decade ago, is now considering their merger.
In universities such as the undivided Bengaluru University — recently trifurcated, University of Mysore and Karnataka University, Dharwad — which consists of almost half the students studying in government universities — only half the sanctioned posts were filled. The overall vacancy of teaching staff in 19 varsities of our state was 45.73 per cent, with 1,799 of the 3,934 posts yet to be filled by the state government. The situation was similar to that of non-teaching staff, as only 3,736 of the 7,838 sanctioned posts have been filled — around 48 per cent.
Degree or First Grade Colleges of the state were relatively better off, as there was only a 11 per cent vacancy in lecturer posts. Of the 7,257 sanctioned posts, 6,398 were filled with only 859 posts vacant. Due to delay in promoting senior professors to the post of principals, 396 of the 410 principal posts in government degree colleges are vacant.