Many of the faculty in the public universities of Odisha are not spending seven hours on campus, and some even come to work in an intoxicated state, students accuse.
These accusations come from an opinion-seeking exercise conducted by the Odisha Department of Higher Education. A month ago, the department had directed students of the state’s public colleges and universities to highlight all shortcomings in their institutions, in terms of academics, placements or infrastructure, via a Google form which was put up on its social media handles.
Students of seven state-run universities, in their feedback, disclosed to the department that many of their faculty members do not remain present on the campus for seven hours, as per the state government’s mandates, reports The New Indian Express.
The names of faculty who were accused of doing so were also disclosed by the students in the feedback forms. The universities in question are Rajendra University, Gangadhar Meher University, Utkal University, Ravenshaw University, Kalahandi University, Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo University, and Sambalpur University.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) rules stay that the faculty members’ workload should not be less than 40 hours a week, for 30 working weeks in an academic year. UGC also states it is necessary for all faculty members to be available on the college or university campus for at least five hours on working days.
However, this rule was amended in 2019 in Odisha, when the then Odisha Higher Education Minister Arun Kumar Sahoo made it compulsory for government college and university teachers to be present on campuses for seven hours instead of five.
Apart from this, students of Sambalpur University, Kalahandi University, Madhusudan Law University, Gangadhar Meher University and Utkal University have all accused some of the faculty members of coming to the campuses under the influence of alcohol.
The department then brought the students’ negative feedback to the attention of the PG Council chairpersons of these universities and directed them to submit reports on the institution-specific allegations within 10 days on Monday, August 14.
Lowered quality of teaching & learning
In a similar fashion, students of colleges were also asked to give feedback on the quality of education on their campuses. Students pointed out several limitations in city-based colleges like BJB College and Maharshi College of Natural Law, in this feedback.
Specifically speaking, students of BJB College have highlighted poor laboratories, and a lack of infrastructure in the Commerce Department and students of Maharshi College detailed the need for computers in all departments, a new canteen and repair of old buildings, among other things. These colleges have been asked to submit their reports within 14 days.
This negative feedback from the students would be thoroughly verified by the department, Higher Education Secretary Arvind Agarwal said. He further added that strict action would be taken against the concerned faculty member or the institution head, if any allegations or shortcomings are found to be true.
