Mail News Service
Ranchi, Jan 15: The process for appointing approximately 260 Associate Professors, Assistant Professors and Professors across government universities in Jharkhand has commenced, as per directives from the Department of Higher and Technical Education. Universities have been instructed to finalize their lists and submit them to the Directorate of Higher Education at the earliest.
Currently, there are about 150 Associate Professors and 110 Professors in the state, a number grossly inadequate to meet the growing academic demands. Additionally, the state government has cleared a list of eligible candidates for 2,404 Assistant Professor positions, forwarding the proposal to the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) for further action. This initiative aims to address staffing shortages in higher education.
Ranchi University, the largest institution in the capital city, faces a critical shortage of academic staff. Of its 47 sanctioned Professor positions, only 9 are currently filled (7 male, 2 female), leaving 38 vacancies. Similarly, of 103 Associate Professor posts, only 52 are occupied (28 male, 24 female), with 51 remaining unfilled.
The situation for Assistant Professors is slightly better, with 99 out of 118 positions filled (52 male, 47 female). However, 24 additional Assistant Professors are working on a contract basis. Immediate action is required to fill these vacancies and improve the university’s academic environment.
Compounding the staffing issue is the alarming student dropout rate in Jharkhand. According to the U-DISE report from the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, 4.9% of children drop out by fifth grade, with this figure rising sharply to 10.3% by 12th grade.
Boys have a slightly higher dropout rate of 5.3% in grades three to five, compared to 4.6% for girls. The dropout rate escalates as students progress to higher grades, reflecting systemic challenges that require urgent intervention.
The appointment process for Professors and Associate Professors has been fraught with delays. In 2016, state universities submitted proposals to the JPSC for 162 Associate Professor and 70 Professor positions. While the JPSC recommended several candidates for Professor positions in 2021, the appointment process remains stalled, leaving the academic community in uncertainty.
The recommended candidates include Dr NK Bera, Dr Gauri Shankar Jha, Dr Jitendra Shukla, Dr Mithilesh Kumar Singh, Dr Mudita Chandra, Dr Hiranandan Prasad, Dr Asha Kumari, Ravindra Singh Chaudhary, Dr Archana Dubey and Dr Manzar Hussain. Despite these efforts, the delay continues to hinder the state’s higher education progress.
