BHUBANESWAR: Amidst diminishing use of Odia, particularly among youths, teaching and research in the language has taken a hit. Neither does the state have enough teachers for the subject at college and university levels nor is it producing quality research work in Odia language and literature.
While there are almost 1,000 posts of Odia lecturers vacant in government degree colleges, all the public universities are running their Odia departments with one to three faculty members. The only exception is Ravenshaw University in Cuttack. Fourteen public universities have Odia departments where the sanctioned Odia faculty positions is either seven or eight as per University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines.
Only Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo University at Baripada and Dharanidhar University in Keonjhar have three and four sanctioned Odia faculty posts respectively.
According to the department of Higher Education, even a premier university like Utkal, which was the first in the state to open an Odia department in 1969, has only one regular Odia faculty member against the sanctioned seven posts.
The first-of-its kind Odia University has a dedicated Odia Language and Literature school but with no regular faculty member to manage it. The Ramadevi Women’s University has eight sanctioned posts for its Odia department but is run by only one regular assistant professor who is also the HoD of the department. Only Ravenshaw University has seven faculty members against eight sanctioned posts.
Sources said many of the chairs set up in universities for research in Odia language and literature are lying defunct or have been shut down due to lack of appointments. Previously, Satyabadi chair and Artaballabh Mohanty chair were set up in Utkal’s department of Odia language and literature but after the retirement of professors of both the chairs, there was no new appointment and they were closed down.
Experts also pointed out a lack of quality research in Odia language and literature. Researcher and author Subrat Prusty said although MA students with Odia honours are coming forward to do PhD in the subject, their work is neither on par with language research being done in other universities across the country nor published in reputed and recognised publications.
“Universities now have a system of selecting their own researchers even if they do not qualify for NET or JRF. Their research work does not contribute to language growth,” he said and suggested that the department should initiate an academic audit to check the quality of research work done in Odia language and literature.