HYDERABAD: All universities in Telangana are facing a severe shortage of teaching staff, with no appointments having been made in these institutions after the formation of the State. Top educational institutions like the Osmania, Kakatiya and other universities are functioning with skeletal staff for years now, mostly depending on contractual faculty.
The total sanctioned posts are 2,837 in these 11 universities in Telangana, but these institutions are functioning with less than half the number of staff. More than 50 per cent of the posts have been lying vacant for years. In fact, the number of contractual staff working in these institutions is higher than full-time faculty.
Of the 2,837 sanctioned posts, these 11 universities have only 968 regular faculty, including professors, associate professors and assistant professors and 1,869 posts are lying vacant after the retirement of hundreds of faculty over the last seven years.
Vice-Chancellors of all the institutions have sent a detailed report on vacant posts to the Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE). In turn, the Council has represented the government five months ago but no concrete steps have been taken on filling up the vacant posts.
In 2017, the State government had given approval to fill 1,061 posts, but no appointments were made due to the various reasons, according to the Osmania University Registrar Prof P Laxmi Narayana. “After taking charge, Vice-Chancellor focused on filling 845 vacant posts. The proposal was sent to the government in September last year, where it is still pending. All preparations for recruitment have been made and the notification will be issued after the instructions from the government,” he said.
The teacher-student ratio in postgraduate courses should be 1:15 as per the UGC guidelines, but this is not followed due to a shortage of faculty. Around 30,000 students have enrolled in various PG courses in Osmania University alone this year. University Grant Commission (UGC) member Prof E Suresh Kumar told Express: “Lack of recruitment has badly hit the education system. The State government should ensure quality higher education by recruiting the required number of staff.”
