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Confusion grips teachers of Ravenshaw University

CUTTACK: Like the ongoing academic session, the newly formed Ravenshaw University is also going to function without its own independent cadre of teachers in the coming academic year too. Moreover, the campus is abuzz with confusion as the teachers are in a quandary over their cadre of service.

Although, the Sate Government has created new teaching posts for the university by proposing to abolish all existing posts of the erstwhile autonomous college, the university authorities have refused to accept the same claiming that the new faculty arrangement is “insufficient” and “arbitrary”. The existing teachers are also in a dilemma, as they do not know whether they are going to receive their salary for the month of March 2008 because the authorities have refused to abolish the existing posts fearing the new university would come to a grinding halt without any teaching staff.

As per the Ravenshaw University Act, it was proposed to abolish all the existing posts of the erstwhile college and in their position an equal number of faculties would be appointed to run the university. The authorities had also suggested enhancing posts in some departments that were running with insufficient faculties. But surprisingly, the government last week created only 140 posts of teacher against the existing 144 posts.

“More shockingly, the Government has not created any professor post for departments like sociology, psychology, philosophy, geography and Hindi although these departments run post graduate courses. The Government even abolished the existing professor post in Hindi department that offer UG, PG and M Phil courses”, said a university teacher.

“How can some of the departments offer M Phil courses with only a handful of lectures without having any post of reader or professor”, asked another teacher pleading anonymity.

In these circumstances, the university would run into a complete chaos and the teaching would be greatly hampered,” the teachers fear adding: “You cannot rule out student agitation in the campus in near future”. When contacted, university registrar Satyakam Mishra confirmed that they had returned the proposal of the Government over creation of new teaching posts urging the latter to reconsider it once again.

The present situation in the new university is also going to hamper its future, as the university has recently urged the University Grants Commission (UGC) to open as many as 25 new departments to offer UG, PG, M Phil and Ph D courses during the 11th Plan.

The university currently runs 31 departments under eight schools like school of mathematics and computer science, school of physical science, school of life science, school of social science, school of language, school of commerce and management, school of regional studies and earth science and school of information and performing arts.

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