MADIKERI: In the recent past, hundreds of students moved to cities from Kodagu in search of a good education – especially to join Pre University and Degree courses. However, the government colleges in the district gradually witnessed an upgrade, and the migration of students reduced drastically. Nevertheless, the PU Colleges are currently faced with challenges in running the institutions due to the acute shortage of PU lecturers.
The shortage of lecturers across PU Colleges in the district has been a perpetual problem. While a total of 149 posts have been sanctioned under the PU Board for the lecturers across the government colleges, 48 posts have been lying vacant since the beginning of this academic year. The shortage has now increased following the recent lecturers’ transfer procedure.
Many lecturers from the district had applied for request transfers and the counseling of the same was held this week. Transfers of a total of 10 lecturers from the district have been approved – further increasing the vacant lecturer post in the district.
“The vacant posts have now increased to 58,” confirmed Puttaraju, DDPU. He explained that two lecturers have taken new postings to the district following the counseling procedure. However, they are yet to report to the posts. “Only natives of the district prefer to work in the colleges here. Many have applied for transfers but the number of lecturers opting for Kodagu for their postings is less,” added Puttaraju.
The acute shortage of lecturers in the PU Board is affecting the functioning of several government colleges in the district.
“Out of the 21 sanctioned posts, only eight posts have been filled. Among the eight, one lecturer has now been transferred. We are unable to find suitable candidates for the guest lecturer posts and it has become impossible to run the institution. We do not have lecturers for Biology, Economics, Accountancy, Geography and Kannada subjects. How are we to run the college?” questioned PR Vijayan, the principal of Junior College in Madikeri. He requested that the state education department act immediately and resolve the lecturer shortage issue at the earliest.