Short on faculty, IITs, IIMs gasp for breath
2 Dec 2014 10:44 PM GMT
Despite several measures to attract faculties from home and abroad, the shortage of teachers in premier technical and management institutes is likely to water down Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dreams to produce quality technocrats. The shocking revelation came to light after Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Zubin Irani submitted the latest report on staff shortage in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
According to the report, there are approximately 39 per cent and 22 per cent vacancy in teaching positions in 16 Indian Institutes of Technology and 13 Indian Institutes of Management respectively. The reasons for faculty shortage are retirement, resignation, increase in students’ intake and non-availability of qualified candidates for taking up teaching assignments.
There are only 4,087 teachers against the total approved strength of 6,653 for IITs, while there are only 598 teachers against the total approved strength of 766 for IIMs. However, in the premier management institutes, the student teacher ratio is far better than IITs. There is one professor for every six students, while in IITs the ratio is 17 to one.
In IITs, Banaras Hindu University has the highest number of vacancies with 316 vacant positions against the approved strength of 557, while in IIMs, Indore stands at top with 62 vacancies against the total strength of 120.
Apart from this, the faculty position of 39 central universities is also alarming as 1,244 positions of professors are lying vacant. According to HRD Ministry, which is taking all steps to ensure quality teachers, the main reason for shortage of teachers is that candidates for the post of professors are not fitting into the bill.
The ministry further attributed the reasons for the crunch to shortage in the feeder cadre of associate professors, sanction of additional teaching posts in view of the expansion in the XI Plan period and increase in intake capacity of students, among others.
According to the report, there are approximately 39 per cent and 22 per cent vacancy in teaching positions in 16 Indian Institutes of Technology and 13 Indian Institutes of Management respectively. The reasons for faculty shortage are retirement, resignation, increase in students’ intake and non-availability of qualified candidates for taking up teaching assignments.
There are only 4,087 teachers against the total approved strength of 6,653 for IITs, while there are only 598 teachers against the total approved strength of 766 for IIMs. However, in the premier management institutes, the student teacher ratio is far better than IITs. There is one professor for every six students, while in IITs the ratio is 17 to one.
In IITs, Banaras Hindu University has the highest number of vacancies with 316 vacant positions against the approved strength of 557, while in IIMs, Indore stands at top with 62 vacancies against the total strength of 120.
Apart from this, the faculty position of 39 central universities is also alarming as 1,244 positions of professors are lying vacant. According to HRD Ministry, which is taking all steps to ensure quality teachers, the main reason for shortage of teachers is that candidates for the post of professors are not fitting into the bill.
The ministry further attributed the reasons for the crunch to shortage in the feeder cadre of associate professors, sanction of additional teaching posts in view of the expansion in the XI Plan period and increase in intake capacity of students, among others.
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