40% government colleges in Punjab sans regular principals

As many as 27 of the 64 government colleges in the state are without regular principals. As a result, the responsibility of these institutions is being managed on an ad hoc basis by giving additional charge to other college principals.

Sixteen of the vacant positions are to be filled by direct recruitment and the remaining through promotion. Officials in the Department of Higher Education said the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) was in the process of recruiting eight college principals. It would take some time before the selected candidates join their assignments, they added.

As per rules, 75% of the posts are to be filled through promotion and the remaining 25% through direct recruitment.

Saying that low salary discouraged in-house promotions, Amrit Samra, state president of the Government College Teachers Association (GCTA), said, “An associate professor was getting a salary of near Rs 2.25 lakh whereas the salary of a principal was Rs 1.44 lakh. Due to such factors, very few eligible candidates apply for the post.”

Samra further blamed the department for posting a bureaucrat as the DPI (Colleges), a post that belongs to college lecturers. An academician from the college better understood the problems of colleges, he said.

A senior government functionary, however, said the government was in the process of filling all vacant posts of college principal.

Sources in the department said the poor strength of students in some colleges, especially those in rural areas, was a cause of concern. Nine colleges have less than 100 students and at least four of these, the student strength was below 20.

Samra also pointed out that two months after the Punjab and Haryana High Court give clearance to the recruitment of 1,158 assistant professors, only 600 joined their duties. The government was not making any effort to make the remaining 411 assistant professors and 67 librarians join their duties, he added.