Patna University faces shortage of staff

The number of teachers in colleges and universities in Bihar have decreased due to the gradual retirement and the inordinate delay in fresh recruitments.

In the last two decades, several universities have faced a considerable decline in the postgraduate (PG) departments. The Patna University (PU) Geology department, which earlier during the 1990s had at least 16 teachers, is left with four teachers at present. The Philosophy and Mathematics department are manned by two teachers each, while the Persian department has only one teacher. The undergraduate departments of different PU colleges are managed mostly by one teacher each.

According to the new University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations, at least one teacher for every 10 students at the PG level and one for every CU level is mandatory. However, the same is not being followed in the colleges and the University of the State. In Bihar, there are around 10 lakh students in the 300 constituent colleges and 10 universities but the total number of teachers is only 6,000. Thus, for more than 160 students there is only one teacher.

For the last 18 years, all the colleges and PG departments have been facing a shortage of teachers and no appointments have been made.

According to the norms laid down for the teachers, an assistant professor is required to work for 16 hours of direct teaching in a week, 14 hours for associate professors and 12 hours for professors. But due to the shortage of staff, a professor is engaging in more than 20 classes per week. As a result, the quality of teaching in some premier institutes of the state has been affected adversely.

Courtesy: India Today