Faculty crunch in junior colleges brings down quality of education

Mahbubnagar: Shortage of teaching faculty in government junior colleges has become a cause of serious concern. All the 56 colleges in the erstwhile Mahbubnagar district are facing the crunch of teaching faculty. Fears are expressed that it may affect the quality of education severely.

According to officials, the enrolment into government junior colleges has increased from 9,525 students last year to 11,642 students this year. But all the government junior colleges are facing faculty crunch.

The students are increasingly preferring to enrol into the government junior colleges. The admissions are still going on. It is true that there is faculty crunch at present, said an official, and added that measures were taken to recruit more teachers.

At present, there are 21 government junior colleges in Narayanpet and Mahbubnagar districts, followed by 15 and 12 government junior colleges in Nagarkurnool and Wanaparthy districts respectively. Jogulamba Gadwal district is having eight government junior colleges.

Overall there are 56 junior colleges across erstwhile Mahbubnagar. At present, there are 130 regular faculties to teach more than 11,000 students, while the remaining classes are being run with the help of temporary lecturers. As many as 460 temporary lecturers are working on contract basis.

However, this year as the strength of students in the junior colleges has increased, faculty strength has to be increased. Not less than 200 vacancies of temporary lecturers have to be filled, according to sources. Apart from it, amenities in the colleges are yet to be improved.