By Mehboob Inamdar
Chhatrapati Sambhajiangar: The decades-old system of hiring teachers on a clock-hour basis (CHB) in the departments of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University comes to an end with the appointment of teachers on a contract basis.
It may be noted that there are 55 academic postgraduate departments in Bamu's main campus and the Dharashiv sub-centre. The State Government approved 289 posts of full-time teaching faculties in the PG departments. Of them, more than 60 per cent fell vacant during the last 12 to 15 years.
The administration wanted to fill full-time teachers, but, could not complete it due to one or another reason like changes in eligibility norms and financial constraints.
There are some departments on the campus, which have more than two to four courses but only one or two teaching faculties to teach students. The services of CHB teachers were hired during the last 15 to 20 years to complete the syllabus on time. Nearly 150 to 250 teachers used to work every year depending on the requirement of the university. Each CHB teacher is allowed to deliver a maximum of two lectures a day.
The university invited application forms to recruit full-time teachers on 73 posts in 2023, however, it was cancelled as the tenure of the then vice-chancellor Dr Pramod Yeole ended.
The vacant posts may affect on the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) grading of the university.
The NIRF of Bamu rank went down in 2023 because of insufficient teaching staff. It has already applied for re-accreditation. The NAAC peer may visit the Bamu campus next month. Therefore, present VC Dr Vijay Fulari decided to hire teachers on a contract basis through written and oral examinations.
Registrar Dr Prashant Amrutkar said nowhere in the State, CHB teachers were hired in the universities. “Around 127 assistant professors are being hired to share the burden of teaching in the departments. The online written test was already conducted on Sunday and Monday while interviews will be held soon. With the appointment of faculties, the era of CHB teachers will end in Bamu,” he added.