With only 838 regular teachers, Panjab University faces 35 per cent shortage in faculty posts

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Talking about the lack of applicants for several faculty posts in the region, Professor Jagwant Singh, president of Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union, told Chandigarh Newsline, “At regional centres and colleges in areas like Moga and Ferozepur, there are only one or two applicants for the vacant faculty positions, and at times, there are no applicants. All of this signals towards a bleak future for the teaching community.”

Even in Chandigarh, about 40 per cent of the faculty positions in government colleges have currently been filled by ad-hoc or guest faculties. For the last eight years, the number of vacant posts in the city colleges has only gone up. At Panjab University, with only 838 regular faculty members, there is about 35 per cent shortage in the faculty posts. In addition to this, about 40 per cent of the faculty positions in government colleges of the region are currently being filled by guest/ad-hoc faculties.

According to the All India Survey on Higher Education 2014-15, the average PTR in universities and colleges across the country is 1:24. Ideally, as specified by the guidelines of the University Grants Commission (UGC), the recommended PTR for undergraduate students is 1:15 and 1:12 for postgraduates. “If we consider the data for Punjab specifically, there are about 60 per cent vacancies in institutions of higher education, and due to shortage of teachers, the students eventually do not get the kind of knowledge and skills that they deserve in these institutions,” said Professor Singh.

Even after the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) released its first National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) earlier this month, it was highlighted that the majority of universities and colleges across India have a severe shortage of faculty members, with many educational institutions working with almost half the required capacity.

“The NIRF data has only reinstated the fact that there is a dearth of teachers at Panjab University, and several other higher education institutions in India. Even though the ongoing financial crisis is a key factor for the delay in appointment of regular teachers, there is a lot of politics that goes on behind the scenes. Amidst all these factors, the student community is at a loss in a country like India where higher education is only going to expand in the coming years,” a faculty member of PU told Chandigarh Newsline.

Suggesting a focus on research initiatives as a possible solution for meeting the shortage of faculty members, Jai Varma, a research scholar from PU, said, “More students need to be encouraged to take up research, and only then will we witness a change in shortage of teachers that the higher education sector is currently facing. We need to restore the glory of the teaching profession in order to ensure a better future for higher education in the country.”