Experts sceptical about govt move to open 10 colleges amid staff crunch

No recruitment in 10 yrs; 164 govt colleges in TN have 7.5K vacancies of permanent faculty

- BINITA JAISWAL @ Chennai

THE recent budget announcement regarding the opening of 10 new government arts and science colleges in the interior parts of the state has left academicians wondering about the quality of education to be offered in the colleges, as they say, the existing colleges themselves are facing acute shortage of faculty. The government decided to establish the colleges with an aim to make higher education more accessible.

The state has a total of 164 government arts and science colleges, with over 1.20 lakh seats in undergraduate streams alone, and there are 7,500 vacancies of permanent faculty members.

Teachers alleged there has been no recruitment of faculty in government and government-aided arts and science colleges in the state for the last 10 years. In 2015, the government had recruited 957 faculty members, and since then, there has been no recruitment.