The number of students has increased in colleges and universities in the last fifteen years, so also vying to get seats. In such a situation, if one thinks that the number of teachers and non-teaching staffs might have increased and vacancies might have been filled up, though not fully but proportionately, then he is wrong.
The Government has scrapped a whopping number of 2,700 posts in the Higher Education Department and an alarming number of 8,500 sanctioned posts are lying vacant now. For this, teaching, research and administrative works in the Government and aided colleges and universities have been severely affected.
Though late, the Government has given permission to fill up vacant teacher posts in universities but it has not given any importance on filling up vacant posts of non-teaching staffs. The situation is such that about 2.5 lakh certificates in the State’s oldest Utkal University are lying undistributed. The scenario in other universities like Sambalpur, Brahmapur, Fakir Mohan, Uttar Odisha and Shree Jagannath Sanskrit University is no different.
If state of affairs at the Government engineering colleges and diploma and ITI institutions are analysed on these points, they also face the same situation.
In three Government medical colleges, over 400 Professor, Associate Professor and Assistant Professor posts are lying vacant. The vacancy situation at the Avinna Chandra Homoeopathic Medical College in Bhubaneswar is such that admissions into PG courses have not been made for the last three years.
Among Government aided universities, only the Uttar Odisha University has the NAAC status now. Similarly, 25 out of 37 autonomous colleges have lost NAAC ranks since long. The Gangadhar Meher Autonomous College at Sambalpur and the Rama Devi Autonomous Women’s College in the State capital have ‘A’ grade NAAC ranks and the rest 10 autonomous colleges have ‘B’ and ‘C’ NAAC ranks.
What is more interesting is that not a single Plus Two college has a regular principal and among Government Degree colleges, only 10 have regular Principals. The rest have in-charge Principals. Similarly, most of the aided private colleges have no regular principals.