Central universities are given a two-month deadline to refill their 6,000 plus vacancies, which form a 3rd of all sanctioned faculty positions.
“Let us work on a mission mode. During Shikshat Parv [Education Festival], allow us to start a campaign, a mission to refill these 6,000 seats within September and October,” said Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in his first interaction with the Vice-Chancellors of 45 Central universities on Friday He added that while there could also be a couple of anomalies at some universities, all institutions should advertise their vacant posts by September 10.
Vice-Chancellors who participated within the meeting said there was a special specialise in backlog vacancies — positions which haven’t been filled despite having been advertised — also as on vacant positions which are reserved for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Class communities. Out of 6,229 vacant positions, 1,767 were for the OBC category, 1,012 for the SCs and 592 for the STs, Mr. Pradhan said.
As institutions start reopening their doors for physical classes after the COVID-19 shutdown, Mr. Pradhan urged them to be accommodative to students, but make sure that teaching and learning doesn’t get disrupted. “On any campus, there could also be student rebellion. On a campus, all live under a disciplinary framework, with commitment to the Constitution. But during a democracy, there must be accommodation and adaptability . The Vice-Chancellors are the custodians to make sure that the first work of a university of teaching and learning doesn’t get compromised,” he said.
Pat for JNU
Mr. Pradhan praised Nehru University for introducing a replacement course on counter-terrorism that has are available for criticism for pertaining to “jihadi terrorism” because the only sort of fundamentalist religious inspired terrorism. The course is supposed for engineering graduate students specialising in diplomacy .
“Our engineers today aren’t just engineers. If a course helps engineering students understand the type of obstacles they might face in developing social products, then I congratulate JNU for introducing such a course,” he said.
Focus on maternal language
The Education Minister also emphasised the importance of using Indian languages in education in the least levels, as recommended by the National Education Policy. He said he wasn’t against English language in theory , and accepted that foreign languages helped Indians participate within the global economy, but acknowledged that, prime importance had to tend to the mother tongues of learners.
With reference to other reforms proposed by the NEP like four-year degrees and therefore the academic credit bank, he urged the Vice-Chancellors to carry consultations and prepare the framework to start implementation by 2022, but also acknowledged that universities had autonomy in their roll-out strategy given their differing challenges.