Ranchi: Three of the seven government universities in Jharkhand do not have any professor across departments, while three others have only one professor each.
The Ranchi University (RU) is the only varsity in the state where there are five professors.
The departments at these universities with no professors are being run by assistant and associate professors.
The situation has primarily arisen as Jharkhand is the only state in the country, where there is no rule for the promotion of university teachers since December 31, 2008.
Ranchi’s Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee University (DSPMU) , Dhanbad’s Binod Bihari Mahto Koyalanchal University (BBMKU) and Palamu-based Nilambar Pitambar University (NPU) have 21-22 postgraduate (PG) departments but have no professors for any subject.
The departments in these three universities are either headed by associate professors or assistant professors.
Ranchi's famous educational institution Ranchi College was made a university in 2017 and was rechristened as Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee University. Even after six years, not a single new permanent faculty has been appointed in the varsity.
The old professors have retired and now there is no professor-level faculty at DSPMU.
The BBMKU in Dhanbad that came into existence in 2017 had three professors R.C. Prasad (Political Science) , Mantu Singh (Commerce) and Anwar Mallick (Botany) at that time. Now, all the three have retired.
As of 2017, senior associate professors at BBMKU were S.K.L. Das (Economics) of 1978 batch and B. Kumar (Chemistry) of 1979 batch, but despite having the qualifications, they were not promoted to the post of professor. Interestingly, same rank faculties from their batches who opted for Bihar cadre became professors later.
NPU Palamu is also facing a similar crisis. A few years ago, the government appointed five professors through state Public Service Commission in Palamu University, but faculties who were selected for NPU did not joined it and preferred to continue as associate professors in their home universities.
Presently, the RU has the maximum five professors in the state.
Three other universities - Kolhan University (KU) Chaibasa , Sido Kanhu Murmu University (SKMU) Dumka and Vinoba Bhave University (VBU) Hazaribagh have only one professor each.
Mundita Chandra (Hindi) is the only professor at the KU while R.K.S. Chowdhary (Philosophy) is also the sole professor in the SKMU. He was in VBU Hazaribagh and two years ago he was transferred to Dumka.
VBU Hazaribagh also has only one professor Mithilesh Kumar Singh (Hindi).
The irony is that all the seven universities have enough qualified teachers for the post but they have not been promoted in the last 23 years.
Secretary of the Federation of the University Teachers Association of Jharkhand, Raj Kumar says that despite repeated requests, teachers in the university are not getting promotions.
An official of the Higher Education Department in the state said that the rules for the promotion of college teachers are expected to be notified soon after the approval of the state cabinet.
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