Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The lone Grade A+ accredited university in the state, which denies affiliation to colleges under its wings if they do not have the required number of faculty members, is facing a good 55 per cent shortage of teaching hands even as the powers that be are still reluctant to fill vacancies.
Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya (DAVV), which had around 75 professors in 2015, is now left with a mere 45 professors even as the number of readers has come down to 36. Besides, the number of lecturers in the university is 106.
Put together, the total number of faculty members is 186, roughly over 55 per cent short of the sanctioned staff. Around 230 teaching posts are vacant in the university where no recruitment of teachers has taken place in the last 14 years. Last time appointments of teachers were made in 2009.
However, the process was stopped mid-stream after recruitments of around 30 teachers were mired in controversies. Delhi University vice-chancellor Prof Yogesh Singh had recently come to DAVV for attending a conference where he suggested that vice-chancellors and potential vice-chancellors not to shy away from recruitments, construction activity and expansion of the institution out of fear of controversies.
But that’s exactly what happens in state-run university which hasn’t seen any VC completing his term in the last 23 years.
Since 2009, the university has seen five permanent and three acting VCs but none of them went for appointment of teachers. All the VCs just advertised the teaching posts but did not fill the vacancies. Dr Narendra Dhakad was removed from vice chancellorship on the accusation of violating the roster as he tried to fill contractual teachers against permanent posts in 2019.
Vice-chancellor Prof Renu Jain says that she has initiated process to fill around 50 backlog posts. “Soon, interview boards will be formed and the posts will be filled,” she adds.
11 professors retired in last two years
As many as 11 professors retired from DAVV in last two years. In 2021, the number of professors in DAVV was 56 which has come down to 45. Three more professors will retire this year. DAVV lost around 50 teachers due to retirement and untimely demises in last 14 years.
