Thu. Mar 28th, 2024
By ucdavis.edu

An All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) cites that Karnataka boasts of the best teacher-pupil ratio (PTR) in the country, that is 16 students per teacher in colleges and universities. However, the story on the ground seems to largely differ. Lecturers and teachers feel that the diminishing number of faculty and vacant posts in institutes of higher education tell a different story.

According to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the norm is to have a PTR of up to 20 students, increased from a previous point 15. According to AISHE, 30 is the average prevailing PTR in the nation.

The state department of collegiate education is lagging in its appointment of over 3,000 teachers in its 412 government colleges. Institutions are depending on 12,000 guest faculty members on working regular 8-hour shifts and this has been the scenario for 3 years:

“I don’t know on what basis the PTR of 16 has been calculated when about 854 posts (sanctioned) are vacant and colleges and colleges are surviving on guest faculty and temporary appointments of principals,” as told by H Prakash, president of Karnataka Government College Teachers Association. He also added, “In my college alone there are over 2500 students registered for Bcom and only 15 regular faculty members are there. The rest are visiting or guest teachers.”

Whereas the AISHE reports state that almost a lakh universities and colleges in the state have 1,296 visiting faculties. The report also tells the number of teachers that have dropped out of the profession in the past one year alone- 7,777 from 3,593 institutions.

“The AISHE report has taken all government aided and private colleges into account as far as vacancies in government colleges are concerned, we need to fill up about 500 existing posts, but as admissions are going up every year, we need to create 3,000 new posts for teaching staff for which we have already sent a proposal to the government,” quoting Manjula N, commissioner, directorate of collegiate education.

By malika

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