Vacancies in top institutes
They are the cradles of talent in the country, the most-sought-after institutes of learning. The uniqueness of such world-class campuses is the knowledge ecosphere that thrives and resonates there, a result of the coming together of brilliant minds and the care taken to cater to their requirements. The unusually high number of faculty vacancies in the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) triggers a sense of disquiet and discomfort. Over 4,400 teaching posts were vacant in IITs, 484 in IIMs and 353 in the Indian Institutes of Science (IISc) as well as the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER), the Lok Sabha was told in February. The teaching staff shortage for the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) was nearly 2,000. Of the 18,956 sanctioned teaching posts in 45 central universities, 6,180 were vacant as on December 1, 2022.
Last year, the Education Minister spoke of directions having been given to all higher education institutions to fill the vacancies in mission mode, with a monthly monitoring. Now, Parliament has been informed that the posts of chairperson are lying vacant in seven of the 23 IITs and 22 of the 31 NITs. It is an honorary position; the chairpersons preside over the Board of Governors (BoG) of the institutes. The charge has been assigned to the chairpersons of other IITs. In the NITs, the director presides over the boards till the new nomination is made. Eleven IITs have vacancies of other BoG posts. What irks is a casual, lackadaisical attitude even for institutions that have been the flag-bearers of national aspirations.
India had 1.17 lakh government schools with a single teacher each in 2021-22. It is a figure that needs to be cited again and again as a reminder of how far we still have to go. If such is the state of affairs, fiddling with the well-established systemic protocols in top institutions that have attained a global reputation can only have a damaging effect.
