KALABURAGI: The state of affairs at Gulbarga University can be considered as a classic case of neglect of Kalyana Karnataka, especially Kalaburagi district, by successive state governments. The university has been facing a severe staff crunch (both permanent teaching and non-teaching staff) for more than a decade. Of the 248 sanctioned posts of lecturer (permanent), 202 are vacant. Of the 36 sanctioned posts of professor, 34 are vacant. Of the 67 sanctioned posts of associate professor, 60 are vacant. Of the 145 sanctioned posts of assistant professor, 107 are vacant.The three-decade old university will be left without any professors, if the two retire.
According to sources, 13 of the 38 departments, including History, Sociology, MSW, Women Studies, Ambedkar Studies, Visual Arts, Music, Marathi, Samskirts and MBA, have no permanent teaching staff members.Departments such as Economics, Applied Electronics, Computer Science, Environment Science, Material Science, Statistics, Zoology, Law, Kannada, Education, and Physical Education have only one each permanent teaching staff member.
The departments which have a sufficient number of staff members are Mathematics and Physics (five each), and Bio-chemistry and Commerce (four each).The university is functioning only because of guest lecturers, said senior academic Basavaraj Kumnoor. “We cannot expect quality education from guest lecturers, and we cannot fix accountability on them. Because of the severe staff crunch, research activities have also been affected,” he added.Vice-Chancellor Dayanand Agsar said there are 118 guest teachers on the main campus of the university, 49 at the PG Centre in Bidar, and 15 at the PG Centre in Aland.
Letter to dept
The university has written to the higher education department. “Once we get permission from the government, we will start filling vacant posts,” he added.Of the 707 sanctioned non-teaching posts, 525 are vacant. Sources said though the university has written several letters to the government to fill vacant posts, nothing has been done so far.