NEW DELHI: Less than six per cent of professors in the top Indian universities are from reserved sections while it is a shade better at an entry-level position as they comprise over 34 per cent of teaching staff in these institutes of higher education.
The revelation has come through the Ministry of Human Resources Development’s response to a question in Parliament, highlighting the poor representation of candidates from socially backward classes in senior teaching posts.
In response to a question by Congress MP Ripun Bora in the Rajya Sabha, the government shared the data from 40 Central universities, compiled by the UGC, which showed that while there are 2,621 assistant professors from reserved quota, there are just 62 professors from SC, ST, OBC and Persons with Disability (PwD) quota.
At associate professor level, this number stands at a mere 178 — out of the total 2,524 positions currently filled — in 40 universities.The numbers indicate that while there is some degree of equity at the entry level, the ratio is badly skewed at higher teaching posts in most of the premier universities.
“This is the result of a rather unfair policy so far by the government that permits no reservation in recruitment other than at the entry-level in universities,” said Jitendra Kumar Meena, who teaches History at Shyamlal College in DU.
An official, however, clarified that in order to fill this gap, a new provision was added in the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Ordinance, which has now been tabled as a Bill.
Two years ago, the Allahabad High Court ruled that reservation rosters in educational institutes should be prepared considering the department or subject as a unit, instead of taking university as a whole.
This order was altered through the ordinance, the official said.
“One of the Clauses in the Ordinance and now the Bill is to also extend the benefit of reservation at all levels of recruitment.”