Research activities come to a standstill
The research activities in the Khallikote Autonomous College, one of the oldest and premier colleges of the State, seems to be in limbo. The college does not have a single professor since last about two years to guide and supervise doctoral and post-doctoral level researches.
As a result of this, this college has distanced from conducting research in different disciplines, bringing research activities to a standstill.
An institution of higher learning always acclaims global recognition and retains its identity only through its innovative researches and research publications in leading international journals. But the Khallikote Autonomous College seems to have deviated from its core object. When the State Government is claiming of reforming and modernising higher education, it fails to provide even the basic infrastructure to an institution of higher learning in terms of the required number of competent faculties, a good digital library and an advanced laboratory to help the faculty impart quality education to students and researchers.
More shockingly, there are currently 29 faculty members this college against a sanctioned strength of 90 and the remaining 61 faculty positions in different subject streams are still vacant. Recently, the Government appointed only five teachers on contract basis to manage the show. Non-appointment of senior level faculty positions like professors has given rise to serious discontentment among the students and their parents and the public at large.
Presently, teaching is imparted in 20 disciplines spread over three levels of education, Graduate, Post-Graduate and MPhil. The Government reportedly had accorded approval for appointment of one professor in each of the 11 PG departments who are supposed to act as heads of their respective departments. In addition to teaching, these professors who are usually senior faculty members are supposed to shoulder the responsibilities of administration and guiding research and executing research projects in their respective areas of specialisation.
But the college seems to have a deviation in this regard. Since the college does not have a single Professor, the junior level faculty members like Readers and lecturers are being entrusted with these additional responsibilities at the cost of students, causing serious impediments in day-to-day teaching.
The Government has sanctioned the post of a Professor each for the Departments of Geology, Botany, Commerce, Chemistry, English, Economics, Earth Science, Mathematics, Physics, Political Science and Zoology. In spite of the Government’s sanction, these posts of professor are lying vacant since January 2012.
Similarly, all the junior level faculty positions are vacant in the Departments like Philosophy and Telugu for the reasons best known to the Higher Education Department. Out of the four sanctioned posts of faculty positions in the History Department, currently there is only one teacher who is going to superannuate from the service by the end of this month. Hence, there would be none in the Department of History to teach students from the next month, sources said.
On the other hand, Principal of the college Dr Radhanath Rath said the Government is quite aware of these vacancies and efforts are being made to appoint more lecturers instead of Professors to meet the immediate problems of teaching. He has discussed the problems of appointment of professors with the Higher Education Minister, he said.
However, there is a conspiracy to deprive this heritage college of getting its legitimate rights and research grants to take the output of the innovative research to zero level to reduce its standard and ranking at the national level, feel intellectuals and academicians.