HYDERABAD: Teachers and professors from engineering and professional streams are faced with a double whammy with PhD being made mandatory for direct recruitment to the post of assistant professors in universities after the faculty-student ratio was changed to 1:20 from 1:15.
According to the University Grants Commission (UGC), PhD degree has been made compulsory for faculty members from the academic year 2021-22. This move, teaching faculty claim, will widen the demand and supply gap for teachers and thus damage the education system.
They allege that a mandatory PhD degree will encourage absenteeism among faculty. Calling the diktat “absurd and a deviation from the core issues for the education sector”, MK Karthikeya, founder, AICTE said, “Since teachers will spend time on the research work there is likely that their inclination will shift from teaching to research.” Earlier the AICTE’s decision to reduce the faculty-student ratio has already resulted in sacking of 1.5 lakh teachers across the country and over a 1,000 from state have lost jobs.