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Fill up 6,000 vacant teaching posts on mission mode by October: Minister to VCs
Emphasising that various stakeholders have to be “accommodative” and “flexible” in a democratic set up of universities in the country, education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said there should not be any compromise on teaching and learning
In his first formal interaction with the vice-chancellors (VCs) of around 45 central universities on Friday, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan urged them to fill up the 6,000-odd vacant teaching posts on a ‘mission mode’ by October. In a veiled reference to the students’ protests, the minister also asked the VCs to be “accommodative” and “flexible” in the democratic set-ups of universities.
During a virtual interaction, Pradhan informed the VCs that 6,229 teaching posts were lying vacant across the central universities. Of them, 1,012 are in Scheduled Caste category, 592 Scheduled Tribe, 1,767 other backward classes (OBC), 805 economically weaker sections and 350 in Divyang (people with disabilities) categories.
“We urge all the universities to fill up these 6,000-odd posts in a mission mode between September and October. Let’s do that in a campaign mode. All the central universities should publish the advertisement of their vacancies by next week,” Pradhan said.
Emphasising that various stakeholders have to be “accommodative” and “flexible” in a democratic set up of universities in the country, Pradhan said there should not be any compromise on teaching and learning. Even as he did not name any university, the minister’s comment came a day after he intervened to resolve the ongoing crisis at the Visva-Bharati University in West Bengal, and advised the administration to form an internal committee to have a dialogue with students, who were agitating over the rustication of three students in connection with an act of vandalism and misconduct that took place on the campus in January.
“We all, at some point of time, have been students. There will be students’ rebellion at the campuses. But everyone has to work with discipline and under the Constitutional framework. We have to be a little accommodative and flexible in a democracy. However, there cannot be any compromise with teaching and learning. The VCs are custodians of the University and they should take care of it,” Pradhan told VCs.
A vice-chancellor, who attended the meeting, said Pradhan told all university heads to “encourage all kinds of ideas and views” on their campuses. “The minister asked the VCs to create a space where all kinds of views and ideas are encouraged. He said there may be some incidents of student protests or agitation over any issue at the campuses, but the academic work should not get hampered because of it,” the VC said, adding that universities have also been asked to keep the ministry “in loop” in case there is any “untoward incident” reported on campus.
The minister also said that VCs should play “pioneering roles” in outlining plans to implement several initiatives under the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, including four-year undergraduate programmes, multiple entry-exit points, and academic banks of credits, among others. He encouraged the universities to offer Japanese language as an additional skill subject to enhance the “employability” of students.
During the interaction, universities updated the ministry about their plans of implementing the NEP-2020. “Over 40 universities informed that they have started implementing several initiatives including the introduction of the academic bank of credits that will allow students to earn credits for different courses,” a senior ministry official said.
Minister lauds JNU course
Meanwhile, Pradhan appreciated Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) for introducing a new course on counter-terrorism meant for engineering students, and lauded VC Jagadesh Kumar for the initiative.
“Recently a colleague from the Parliament wrote to me asking why JNU has introduced a course on terrorism. Our engineers today are not just engineers. They are involved in building social products. So, if a course helps engineering students understand the kind of hindrances they could face, then I congratulate JNU VC Jagadesh Kumar and his team for introducing such a course,” Pradhan said.
After JNU’s decision to introduce a course titled ‘Counter Terrorism, Asymmetric Conflicts and Strategies for Cooperation among Major Powers’, Communist Party of India’s (CPI) Rajya Sabha member Binoy Viswam on Tuesday wrote to Pradhan demanding the course must not be allowed to be taught.
