HYDERABAD: To put it mildly, Urdu medium education in Telangana is in dire straits; a far cry from its heydays when Urdu was the language of instruction in all subjects. Those obtaining education in Urdu medium are facing severe difficulties at college and university levels. So indifferent is the administration to the needs of the students that Osmania University has left the Undergraduate and Postgraduate Urdu medium departments to the mercy of contract and outsourcing faculty. This is because the university has failed to fill any vacancy after the faculty retired.
There are a total of 11 sanctioned posts in Arts College in various Urdu medium courses, while the constituent colleges have the same number of vacant posts. There are around 20 sanctioned Urdu medium posts in all the institutions. The classes are being managed by contract or educational consultants hired on an outsourcing basis. According to university sources, Arts College needs three professors, five associate professors and three assistant professors.
Every undergraduate college should have at least one professor, two associate professors and three assistant professors for multiple subjects as per the norms. However, all the chairs are vacant and only six contractual faculty members have been hired for Urdu departments in Arts College, Koti Women’s College, Nizam College and PG College, Secunderabad. Around 600 students have enrolled in Urdu medium courses in the current academic year.
According to the OU Registrar, a fresh notification will be released in a few months. The Vice-Chancellor and Registrar had been appointed earlier this year. The Registrar informed that the notification was released in 2018 for recruitment but it lapsed as the administrative posts were vacant then.
Educational activists urge the government to fill all vacant Urdu medium posts in all the institutions soon.
Mohamed Younus, an educational activist and Osmania University alumni, said that the government had accorded Urdu second language status but has done nothing for the language.
“Urdu medium institutions, including schools, colleges and universities are in a pathetic condition even after Urdu being declared a second language since no recruitment had been made after bifurcation of the State.”Students who have enrolled in Urdu medium courses are worried as the department is functioning without faculty. They want the authorities to appoint the faculty for Urdu medium courses as soon as possible.