BHUBANESWAR: Not only teachers, but also posts of principals in many of the junior and degree colleges have been lying vacant for a long time.
With recruitments being delayed, the colleges have been resorting to appointing principals on a temporary basis but the arrangement does not suffice.
The BJB Autonomous College is a pointer to the fact. In the last one year, the college has seen three principals, all being appointed on ad hoc basis.
The issue was discussed at a meeting chaired by Minister of State for Higher Education Pradeep Panigrahi on Saturday. “The colleges need regular principals and not those on temporary basis. As the principals keep changing frequently, there is little time for them to coordinate with the staff, plan and contribute to the development of a college,” said Higher Education Secretary, Gagan Dhal.
In 2011, the Department of Higher Education had decided to recruit 18 principals against the vacant posts. Sources said six lead and 19 autonomous colleges have been functioning without a principal since 2001.
Besides, the posts of principal in 18 degree colleges, which had been filled up during 2008-09, have also fallen vacant following retirement of incumbents.
Currently, Odisha has 29 lead or Grade-I colleges where a professor-ranked person will be the principal and for degree colleges a reader-ranked person has to become the principal.
In 2012, the then Higher Education Minister Badri Narayan Patra had informed the Assembly that 43 posts of principal and 604 posts of lecturers were lying vacant in 43 Government-run degree colleges across the State. In the absence of regular principals, arrangements were made to appoint senior most Readers of the colleges concerned as principals in-charge.
The department had requested the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) several times in the past to fill up the vacant posts of principal.
However, the OPSC recommended that necessary amendments be made in Odisha Education Service (Senior Administrative Grade) recruitment rules to remove bottlenecks in filling up these posts.
Dhal said the State Government has asked OPSC to begin the recruitment process within a month.