BHUBANESWAR: The 18 new government colleges proposed in educationally-backward districts by the previous BJD government will become operational in the next academic session but without regular teachers.
Guest faculty will be engaged to take classes in these colleges which will operate from school buildings. Besides, faculty members of different degree colleges will be made in-charge principals of these new institutions.
The Higher Education department will operationalise the new colleges in 18 blocks of 10 educationally-backward districts from the ensuing academic session of 2024-25, which begins on August 1.
The colleges will come up in Gumma (Gajapati), Dharakote (Ganjam), Thuamul Rampur (Kalahandi), Khajuripada (Kandhamal), Bandhugaon and Narayanapatna (Koraput), Chitrakonda (Malkangiri), Tiring (Mayurbhanj), Tentulikhunti, Kosagumuda, Jharigaon and Raighar (Nabarangpur), Kasipur, Ramanaguda and Chandrapur (Rayagada) and Nuagaon, Gurundia and Kuanrmunda (Sundargarh).
These ‘educationally uncovered’ blocks neither have any private nor self-financing colleges. The new colleges will offer education in only the Arts stream in five disciplines - political science, education, history, English and Odia. The students’ strength will be 32 in all the disciplines except English and Odia which are compulsory subjects.
However, as regular faculty recruitment has been put on hold for the last three years due to the stay by the Supreme Court on Odisha Universities (Amendment) Act-2020, the department has decided to manage the affairs with guest faculty only.
An official said there will be four guest faculty members per college. Including the in-charge principal, there will be five faculty members for as many disciplines in each of these colleges. However, per the University Grants Commission pattern, there should be three faculty members per subject in degree colleges.
Similarly, official sources said as there was little time available to look for land or rented buildings for these colleges, it was decided that these new institutions would function from school buildings in the blocks. This arrangement will be in place till regular faculty members are appointed and land is identified for the construction of new buildings.
Although academicians welcomed the initiative to open degree colleges in educationally-uncovered blocks, they termed it as a hurried move. “There is no reason why the 18 colleges should be opened in remote corners of the state without basic infrastructure or manpower. Even if the disciplines are mostly non-practical subjects, this may be the only state where colleges are being opened with only guest faculty,” said Shibananda Tripathy, a retired principal.
Education plan
There will be four guest faculty members per college
These colleges will operate from school buildings
Faculty members of different degree colleges will be made in-charge principals of these colleges
This arrangement will be in place till regular faculty members are appointed and land is identified for construction of new buildings