The colleges have initiated the process to recruit principals and have also conducted
interviews.
Gujarat Technological University (GTU) has issued notification
to all technical colleges that “surprise checking would be carried out by teams
specifically designated for the task of carrying out local inquiries”. The varsity
has directed all colleges to co-operate with the squads. The notification
comes on the heels of the report submitted by the Local Inquiry Committee (LIC)
which revealed that nearly 40 per cent positions of teachers in diploma, degree
engineering, pharmacy, MBA, MCA, Master of Engineering, M.Pharm, architecture and
hotel management courses are lying vacant. What’s more, 50 per cent of these self-financed
colleges are currently headless and are being managed by in-charge principals. GTU
recently formed teams headed by nine deans to carry out surprise inquiries at different
colleges. The college managements, however, opposed these checks saying that “the
inspection should be carried out only through prior information”.
GTU issued a notification on the heels of this opposition. “We are very serious
about the issue of ascertaining the true infrastructure and human resource picture
at the colleges so that the students are not short changed. We have directed all
college managements to co-operate with the investigating teams”, said A.K. Aggarwal,
GTU vice chancellor. The GTU had recently asked colleges to furnish details about
the staff, number of students and infrastructure at college campuses, including
laboratory equipment. The university has also designed a web page and posted all
the information on online. GTU teams will now check whether the information furnished
to the university is correct or whether the staff and facilities exist only on paper.
The GTU is especially careful about the laboratory facility at colleges. Recently,
numerous instances have come to light where colleges had furnished the practical
marks to the GTU while it was disclosed later that they had not conducted the exam
as they did not have labs in the college! “Colleges have been told that practical
marks will not be considered if it is found that the colleges do not have adequate
labs and lab equipment”, said Aggarwal.
13 tech colleges headless:
There is a lack of principals in technical colleges in Gujarat. GTU officials said;
there are 16 government engineering colleges in the state, only three colleges have
full-time principals. The rest 13 are being run under in-charge principals. The
situation in self-financed colleges is equally alarming. Of the 92 self-financed
colleges, the position of principals is vacant in 45 institutions. In 47 colleges
that have principals, 15-odd colleges have principals who are above 65 years of
age. Rules stipulate that “the age of principal in technical colleges should not
be above 65 years”. In fact, enquiries done by GTU revealed that 15-odd colleges
had principals above this age. GTU has issued notices to these colleges to relieve
principals who are above 65 years and recruit other candidates in their place.
Majority of the colleges have initiated the process to recruit principals and have
also conducted interviews. However, GTU officials have found that many colleges
had directly appointed their own candidates as principals without taking permission
of GTU. It is mandatory to get the candidature of a principal cleared by GTU, said
university officials. Any candidate who is a professor and has completed 10 years
of teaching can apply for the position of principal. Alternatively, teachers who
are not professors but have 13 years of teaching experience can apply for the position.
Courtesy: Times of India
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