Jaipur: Data released by the department of higher education says that of 12,654 sanctioned posts of teachers in the state government-run 490 colleges, 6,566 were vacant in the academic session 2022-23. This year, the state has opened 117 new colleges, but not a single new teacher has been recruited. Of the total colleges, just 36 have working principals, while in others the charge has been given to teachers.
The Gehlot-led Congress government opened 157 colleges in the last five years, taking the tally of the total colleges to 490 in the state.
Pranjal Singh, founder of Abhyutthanam Society which works in the education sector, said, “In a situation when half of the staff—teaching and non-teaching both—are missing from colleges, how can one expect quality education? These are colleges that exist only on paper and have just some basic teachers for name’s sake. The colleges are churning out students with poor learning levels.”
While the number of colleges has increased to 490, the sanctioned posts for principals are only 292. It means that the sanctioned posts have not been revised by the government as per the number of colleges.
“If the government revised the number of posts to match the number of colleges, the proportion of vacant posts would become even worse,” said Puneet Sharma, an expert on education.
TOI spoke to teachers of some newly opened colleges to learn how they were facing the situation. A teacher, requesting anonymity, said, “Our college is running in an old campus with barely three rooms fit for teaching and four teachers in total. We were assured that at the beginning of the academic session, we would have at least five teachers. I, however, don’t see any hope of there being more teachers anytime soon.”
TOI called up the commissioner of college education, Sunil Sharma, for his comments but he did not respond.
Most of the state’s colleges are being run from makeshift buildings that have no facilities and teachers there are deployed from other colleges. Many of these colleges offer only basic courses, with labs and other facilities missing for subjects like science and commerce.
The Gehlot-led Congress government opened 157 colleges in the last five years, taking the tally of the total colleges to 490 in the state.
Pranjal Singh, founder of Abhyutthanam Society which works in the education sector, said, “In a situation when half of the staff—teaching and non-teaching both—are missing from colleges, how can one expect quality education? These are colleges that exist only on paper and have just some basic teachers for name’s sake. The colleges are churning out students with poor learning levels.”
While the number of colleges has increased to 490, the sanctioned posts for principals are only 292. It means that the sanctioned posts have not been revised by the government as per the number of colleges.
“If the government revised the number of posts to match the number of colleges, the proportion of vacant posts would become even worse,” said Puneet Sharma, an expert on education.
TOI spoke to teachers of some newly opened colleges to learn how they were facing the situation. A teacher, requesting anonymity, said, “Our college is running in an old campus with barely three rooms fit for teaching and four teachers in total. We were assured that at the beginning of the academic session, we would have at least five teachers. I, however, don’t see any hope of there being more teachers anytime soon.”
TOI called up the commissioner of college education, Sunil Sharma, for his comments but he did not respond.
Most of the state’s colleges are being run from makeshift buildings that have no facilities and teachers there are deployed from other colleges. Many of these colleges offer only basic courses, with labs and other facilities missing for subjects like science and commerce.
