Page 16 - EW July 2022

Education News

MAHARASHTRA time, the minister assured
Double jeopardy the association that all
posts would be filled with-
in the next year with a GR
ramatic events on the political issued in November 2021
stage in end-June which cul- to appoint 2,088 assistant
Dminated in the resignation of professors.
chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and But with the MVA gov-
end of the tripartite Shiv Sena, Na- ernment having collapsed,
tionalist Congress Party (NCP) and association members fear
Congress party coalition government that these assurances are
after 31 months in office, has clouded likely to be ignored by the
the future of 2,088 aspirants for the Bharatiya Janata Party
coveted position of assistant profes- (BJP) which has formed the
sors in private aided degree colleges. Uday Samant: endangered promise new government (in part-
Last September (2021), the MVA nership with the breakaway
government’s technical and higher aided colleges are heavily dependent Shiv Sena faction) because
education minister Uday Samant had on salary grants from cash-strapped it has a bad record of teacher recruit-
promised to fill all vacant assistant state governments. A government res- ment. When the BJP was in power
professor posts in the state’s 1,171 olution of November 12, 2021 allowed (2014-19), it approved a mere 1,674
private aided colleges by July. Now only 2,088 assistant professors to be appointments of which only 720 were
aspirants fear that the abrupt fall of recruited for the academic year 2022- filled.
the MVA government will stymie the 23. However, the snail’s pace at which “While no government has given
appointment process that began on the appointments are being made -- teacher appointments the importance
June 20. the technical and higher education it deserves, the BJP has been espe-
In India’s complex higher educa- department is still issuing NOCs (no cially lethargic. It wants to introduce
tion system, there are three types of objection certificates) to allow college the Gujarat pattern of recruitment
undergrad colleges — government, managements to advertise assistant under which teachers are hired on
private aided and private unaided (fi- professors’ posts — means not even ten-month contracts absolving the
nancially independent). Private aided one appointment has been made for state of all other financial liabilities.
colleges are privately promoted but the academic year 2022-23, which has The November ’21 GR had given us
levy government prescribed tuition commenced this month (July). some hope of resolution. But given
fees. In consideration of this, the sala- But with the state government’s the current political scenario, we will
ries of their faculty and staff are paid wages and salaries bill for govern- probably have to begin our fight for
by the Central or state governments. ment and private aided colleges al- our rights anew,” says Dr. Sandeep
Currently, an estimated 70,000 ready a sizeable Rs.105.9 crore and Pathrikar, president, Maharashtra
well-qualified postgrads and Ph Ds the overall budget indicating a fiscal Navpradhyapak Sanghatana.
who have cleared the Central nation- deficit of Rs.24,353 crore in 2022-23, When elephants fight, the grass un-
al eligibility test (NET) and/or state faculty recruitments are on the back- der their feet is trampled.
eligibility test (SET) are employed burner. The alternative of raising Dipta Joshi (Mumbai)
on clock-hour-basis (CHB) in gov- students’ over-subsidised tuition fees
ernment and aided colleges. Paid a which would enable aided colleges to WEST BENGAL
measly Rs.521 per hour, these aspir- raise faculty pay, is a political hot po-
ing teachers had extracted a promise tato which none of the state’s political Irreparable damage
from Samant that 18,000 vacant as- parties is willing to touch.
sistant professorship posts in Maha- Unsurprisingly, the Aurangabad- teacher recruitment scandal
rashtra’s aided colleges would be filled based Maharashtra Navpradhyapak dating back to 2016 contin-
before the start of the new academic Sanghatana (Maharashtra New Pro- A ues to haunt the state’s Trin-
year. Under Seventh Pay Commis- fessors’ Association), which claims amool Congress (TMC) government,
sion scales, an assistant professor is it has 10,000 members, is on the now in its third term in office.
paid between Rs.57,700-182,000 per warpath. Since 2017, the association On May 18, a single judge bench
month. has staged 15 protest rallies includ- of the Calcutta high court ordered
With students’ fees in aided col- ing threats of fasts-unto-death. These a CBI probe into the process of the
leges contributing a mere 5-10 per- protests compelled Samant to parley West Bengal School Service Commis-
cent of their annual revenue, private with them last September. At that sion (WBSSC) for recruiting teachers

16 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2022