The Hindu : Front Page : Managements of aided arts and science colleges in a fix

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 18, 2005

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Managements of aided arts and science colleges in a fix

R. Krishnamoorthy

To strike a balance between UGC norms for quality and the ground reality

TIRUCHI: Managements of aided arts and science colleges of repute in and around Tiruchi find it hard to strike a balance between the norms fixed by the University Grants Commission for quality and the ground reality.

This is true in the case of government colleges also; they have to contend with the reality of their institutions transforming into self-financing ones. With teachers retiring in large numbers every year and the State Government "cold-shouldering" its responsibility of appointing new teachers to sanctioned posts, the problem is smouldering in many colleges.

Of late, their problems have come out in the open what with teachers' organisations, including the Government College Teachers' Manram, Aided Colleges Teachers' Association and the Association of University Teachers voicing their concern over declining teacher strength. Though surprising, it is true that many institutions have only a couple of regular teachers even for courses such as Physics and Chemistry.

The crunch-like situation on the one hand and the rush for admissions on the other has reflected in these institutions starting a string of demand-oriented self-financing courses. As managements could formulate the fee structure for self-financing courses, they find some leverage in appointing teachers for these courses on consolidated pay.

Nevertheless, the fear of aided colleges is that sooner than later, they would be branded as `commercial institutions' if the number of students and teachers under self-financing stream becomes overwhelming. Unfortunately, a couple of negative factors come in the way of appointing quality teachers.

It is of course a problem of their making. Due to compulsions of managements, these institutions are forced to make some compromises, dictated by religion and even denominations, while choosing the candidate. Efficiency of the candidate under such circumstances takes a backseat.

In any case, the pay hovering around Rs.5,000 a month, which the managements offer for candidates with SLET/NET, M.Phil, and Ph.D qualifications, does not help in extracting their commitment to quality education or the profession as such, laments a senior professor of an aided college in the city on terms of anonymity.

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