A platform of college principals has written to the education minister, urging him to sanction new teaching posts and fill up the vacant positions in colleges.
The principals said if the teaching strength was not increased it would be difficult to run the four-year undergraduate (UG) programmes that were introduced last year following UGC guidelines.
The UG programmes were three years earlier.
The principals said there were many colleges with one teacher in a department. “It is not humanly possible for a teacher to run a department single-handedly,” they wrote.
They have also approached the minister for financial support to develop infrastructure which, they said, is crucial to run the four-year programme.
The letter signed by Shyamalendu Chatterjee and Pankaj Debnath, general secretaries of the All Bengal Principals’ Council, said: “Most of the colleges are unable to maintain the standard of education due to lack of teaching posts. There is an urgent need to sanction some teaching posts to address this issue.”
The letter was handed over to education minister Bratya Basu on the sidelines of a programme at a Cooch Behar college on Friday.
The letter said: “We need more financial support for the purchase of books, furniture and construction of buildings from the state government.”
Chatterjee said: “The subject matrix has changed with the launch of the four-year programme. UG programmes now include major subjects, discipline-specific core courses, minor subjects, ability enhancement courses, skill enhancement courses and value-added courses. Therefore, there is a need to sanction additional posts and fill the vacancies.”
A college principal said: “The draft of the NEP (national education policy) says the departments offering a 4-year UG degree (honours with research) must have the required infrastructure such as library, access to journals, computer lab and software, and laboratory facilities to carry out experimental research. We need to develop new buildings equipped with facilities to carry out experimental research. The colleges require financial support to create the infrastructure.”
When contacted, minister Basu said: “I did not receive any such memorandum and therefore I won’t comment.”
Admitting that funds were needed to introduce the four-year programme, Basu had told The Telegraph in March 2023: “Our issue with UGC had been to provide suitable fund support to ensure its implementation by higher education institutions as it may require physical/human resource upgradation.”
The forum of principals has also drawn the minister’s attention to the lack of librarians and non-teaching staff in the colleges.