CHENNAI: The government will soon begin the third round of redeployment of staff from Annamalai University, through which, nearly 250 teaching staff will be transferred to other government colleges, according to highly-placed sources in the Higher Education department.
This decision has irked existing government college teachers, who claim that faculty from the varsity are not qualified and that their transfer will disrupt a fair recruitment process. Annamalai University at Chidambaram was private until 2013 when it was taken over by the State government after it was hit by financial distress and mismanagement. There was nearly 5,750 additional staff in the university, of which 1,031 were teaching staff. In the first two phases of redeployment, 3,170 teachers were redeployed in government colleges and polytechnics, enraging existing faculty, who called them “under-qualified.”
“All staff in government colleges were appointed according to University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations. But, many of the faculty who came from Annamalai university were under-qualified. Recruiting such staff leads to dilution of quality of education,” said R Dhamodharan, general secretary of Tamil Nadu Government Collegiate Teachers’ Association.
He said that teachers, who are not used to the standard of government colleges, were often incompetent compared to existing staff. Although the freeze on teachers’ recruitment has been lifted, he argued that the process was delayed until now because teachers from Annamalai University have to be redeployed.
Excess faculty members from the varsity were based in and around Chidambaram, where the campus is. “So many former faculty members, even used foul play to get transfers to colleges near Cuddalore, thereby limiting transfer options for existing staff like me, who’ve worked in government colleges for years,” said a professor, who currently teaches at Coimbatore, on condition of anonymity.
Members of the syndicate in the University of Madras had strongly opposed the redeployment when it was first announced. Around seven faculty members from Annamalai University work there now along with other non-teaching staff who were transferred. “Madras University follows the 200-point roster for appointments. Each department is considered as a separate unit for recruitment. These transfers distort the reservation structures of the departments,” said a senior faculty member from the University of Madras.
P Duraisamy, Vice-Chancellor of the varsity, said the staff were transferred only on a temporary basis and will be transferred back at the end of three years from the day they were recruited.“There was a problem initially. But, since only seven teaching staff came here, teachers agreed to not agitate. We do not know if any staff will be deployed here in the third round,” he said.