Orissa varsities flouting UGC norms : CAG

It has also pointed at a large number of vacancies for teaching staff and irrational recruitment.

The CAG in its latest report has derided Orissa’s higher education system, saying universities in the state have been flouting UGC guidelines, and granting affiliations to colleges and institutes without proper check.

It has also pointed at a large number of vacancies for teaching staff at various universities and colleges, and irrational recruitments.
The CAG report on the state of higher education in Orissa, tabled before the Assembly on Thursday evening, said that 42.58 per cent of teaching posts in government educational institutions, 35.41 per cent in universities and 15.10 per cent in aided educational institutions remained vacant as of March 2014.

It said the vacancies were not rationalised – on one hand no teacher was available in 17 subjects in 13 government educational institutions, while on the other 12 surplus teachers for the subjects were at five other educational institutions.

As per the UGC guidelines, the student-teacher ratio in PG departments should be 10:1 in Science and 15:1 in Commerce department. However, it was 34:1 at Bhubaneswar’s Utkal University, 52:1 at Cuttack’s Ravenshaw University and 20:1 at Balasore’s Fakir Mohan university. Posts for 11 professors and five lecturers in PG departments of these universities have been lying vacant.

The state government opened many courses at the PG-level in various universities, but did not make enough provisions to recruit teaching staff, the CAG said in its report. In three colleges (Ekamra College, Panchayat Samiti College, Belpada and Deogarh College) ladies/ ST/ SC hostels were used as office, teacher’s common room, classroom, and Principal’s room. In one college (Kankadahad Junior College), ST/ SC hostel has been rented out to an NGO since 2008-09.

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Orissa
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