Opinion: Filling varsities’ vacancies crucial
The Governor’s act of holding Common Recruitment Board Bill is purely political and will only hamper students’ future
By Gowd Kiran Kumar
Hyderabad: The Telangana Universities Common Recruitment Board Bill, 2022, passed in the Assembly, is with the Governor for assent. The Common Recruitment Board aims to fill 1,061 faculty positions and another 1,000 non-teaching posts in State universities, except the Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences.
Osmania, Kakatiya, Palamuru, Satavahana, Mahatma Gandhi, Telangana Mahila, Potti Sriramulu Telugu, Professor Jayashankar Agriculture, Dr BR Ambedkar Open, PV Narasimha Rao Veterinary, Konda Laxman Bapuji Horticulture, RGUKT, JNTU, and JNAFAU will come under the board. The Chairperson of the Telangana State Council of Higher Education will be the ex-officio Chairman of the Common Recruitment Board and three senior officers of the higher education, finance, and administrative departments will be the members. The Commissioner of the Collegiate and Technical Education will be the member convenor.
Sections 6 and 7 of the Bill clearly mention that the Board shall follow UGC regulations in the section of the teaching and non-teaching posts.
Faculty Crunch
Universities are facing severe problems with the shortage of faculty members as most of the departments and centres are running with ad hoc and contract professors. In some departments, contract assistant professors are heading them. On the other side, many young researchers hold PhD degrees in hand and are waiting for teaching opportunities at universities. There has not been a single recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff after the formation of the Telangana State. Though there is opposition to the Common Recruitment Board, the Governor’s act of holding the Bill is purely political rather than constitutional or administrative concerns.
Bihar Case
The Bihar State University Service Commission was constituted under the Bihar State University Service Commission Act, 2017, which was passed on September 4, 2017, to make recommendations for the appointment of professors, associate professors and assistant professors in the University and constituent colleges of Bihar. The commission has been active in recruiting faculty positions since 2017.
Surprisingly, the BJP was part of the Bihar government with JD(U) during the passing of the Bill, and the party never objected to the formation of the Common Recruitment Commission in Bihar. With a common recruitment board in the State, candidates save time and resources to apply for teaching positions in multiple universities through a single application process. Additionally, the board also established standardised criteria for evaluating candidates’ qualifications and conducting interviews, promoting fairness and impartiality in the selection process.
Vacant Positions
SC, ST and OBC faculty positions in central higher education institutes like central universities, IITs, IIMs, IISERs and IISc are being sanctioned but not filled. Despite a large number of applications, the SC, ST, and OBC applications are being rejected, stating that no suitable candidates have been found. (see infographics).
It’s worth noting that the reservation policy is a constitutional provision intended to promote social equality and affirmative action for historically marginalised communities in India. Universities and institutes have failed to provide opportunities to marginalised communities. The Common Recruitment Board will address this critical issue and promote social justice and diversity in universities.
TS as Knowledge Economy
The Telangana government is providing quality school education to students from marginalised and poor sections. The Telangana Social Welfare Residential Institutions Society (TSWRIS) is running more than 500 residential institutions for education from Class V to Intermediate for SC, ST and BC students. The Telangana Tribal Welfare Residential Educational Society (TTWREIS) is operating 160 institutions from Class I to PG. There are 29 mini gurukulams and 22 degree colleges in English medium. There are government colleges providing education at the undergraduate level.
The graduating students are aspiring for higher education and research in State and central universities. PG and PhD level courses are being offered at the university level. Due to a shortage of teaching faculty, PhD programmes are not offered regularly and research in universities is in the doldrums.
Hyderabad is becoming the hub for software, pharmaceutical, life sciences, gaming and innovation. Many of the research and innovations are happening in western universities. State universities have all strengths and resources to become knowledge hubs and intensify research and development. They can also collaborate with industry to take up new research domains. Hence, we need a quality workforce in universities to provide quality education and research in the State. Any delay in the appointment of faculty members will only hamper the development of the State.
The better faculty-student ratio will also help universities get accreditation and improve rankings in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). It will attract international students to pursue higher education in State universities.
The Telangana Governor has raised some issues with the Bill, and the Education Minister has clarified them. Though arguments for and against the Bill are well debated, the need of the hour is to fill faculty positions to provide quality higher education to students who are graduating from various public and private schools.
Teachers and research scholars associations like the Federation of University Teachers Associations of Telangana State have also requested the Governor to give assent to the Bill and hasten the recruitment of teaching posts. The experiment was already done in Bihar, and now it is time to recruit teaching and non-teaching posts in State universities to provide quality education for students from marginalised and poor communities.
