CHENNAI: There are 58 students for every teacher in State public universities, as opposed to the 20:1 student-teacher ratio recommended by the University Grants Commission (UGC), according to the All India Survey for Higher Education (AISHE), which was released recently.
The ratio in Tamil Nadu is, in fact, higher than at least 19 States and higher than the national average of about 46:1 as well. The ratio in State public universities is poor even compared to other universities within the State itself. The student-teacher ratio in government-aided deemed universities is about 19:1, in deemed private universities about 15:1, in the Central University it is about 12:1 and in institutes of national importance within the state, it is about 30:1. There is no data available for private universities, though.
There are multiple reasons that have led to such high student-teacher ratio in Tamil Nadu. The Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education in the State is 48.6 per cent. The figure has been steadily rising over the last few years. “Although intake of students has increased significantly, recruitment of teachers has not been equally robust,” said MK Surappa, Vice-Chancellor of Anna University.
On the Chennai campus of Anna University, for example, the number of first-year seats in Computer Science has been increased from 160 to 180. “However, recruitment of faculty for the additional student has not been made and we are waiting for approval. Now that we have it, I intend to maintain a 15:1 ratio in the university,” he said.
Another reason for high vacancy in public universities is lack of incentives, opined M Anandakrishnan, former vice-chancellor of Anna University. “Promotions are stingy in State public universities. Teachers move forward much quicker in Central and private institutions and therefore prefer not being employed here,” he said, claiming that universities are usually starved of funds for recruitment.
The student-teacher ratio, as reported by the survey, may, however, be higher than what it is in reality, argued P Duraisamy, Vice-Chancellor of University of Madras. “Temporary staff and guest lecturers are not included in the survey. This skews the figure. The ratio, however, will still be poor across the State, even if these teachers are included,” he said. He said that on the Chennai campus of Madras university, there are over 260 permanent staff and 40-50 temporary teachers. “In affiliated colleges, number of guest lecturers and temporary staff is much higher.”
Mangat Ram Sharma, Principal Secretary to the Higher Education department, said that there are nearly 3,000 guest higher education faculties in Tamil Nadu. “Teachers’ Recruitment Board has been asked to hire more teachers and the guest faculty too will be regularised soon. The ratio will come down, once these steps are taken,” he said.
new courses, not many teachers
R Dhamodharan, general secretary of Tamil Nadu Government Collegiate Teachers’ Association, said that many new courses were started in recent years, but as many teachers were not recruited