BARIPADA: Shortage of both teaching and non-teaching staff has affected the quality of education at Maharaja Purna Chandra (MPC) Autonomous College in Mayurbhanj district. Of the sanctioned strength of 84, at least 47 lectures’ posts are lying vacant since long, putting a huge stress on academic activities.
Named after legendry Maharaja Purna Chandra, the oldest college in North Odisha was established in 1948 and started functioning from Mayurbhanj Palace at Bada Bazaar here. Later, it was shifted to its new campus at Takatpur, 3 km from here, in 2000-01. The college got autonomous status in 2001.
While the students’ strength of the college is 5,400, only 28 regular and nine ad hoc lectures are managing 23 departments of the college. At present, of the five posts in Philosophy, there is only one regular lecture. Similarly, of the six posts in Zoology, there are only two ad hoc lectures. Of the eight posts in Physics department, only one lecturer is serving, college Principal Dr Krutibash Sahu said.
Two posts in Computer Science department and one post in Hindi department are also lying vacant. Of the nine each posts in English and Chemistry, the departments are being run by three and one lectures, respectively.
On the other hand, departments such as Education, Psychology, Anthropology and Santhali have had no teachers from the beginning and are being managed by guest lectures. In the non-teaching category, all 105 Grade-III posts are lying vacant. Of the 25 Grade-IV posts, 15 are yet to be filed up.
Last year, the University Grants Commission (UGC) had sanctioned `seven lakh for infrastructure and upgradation of library. The college had received UGC grant of `15 lakh and `20 lakh in 2013-14 and 2014-15 respectively for development of the college.
Meanwhile, the college management has urged the UGC to review the situation.