RTMNU freezes admission to 129 colleges, courses
| Date :19-May-2019 |
By Ajay Mardikar:
Principals and managements condemn V-C’s adamant attitude n Students from rural areas will be affected
Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU) has uploaded the list of 129 colleges affiliated to it, where admission to first year for different courses has been freezed. The action against these colleges was initiated in a phased manner. Some of them have removed the deficiencies. Many others, however, were not able to do it for various reasons. Despite the members of The Principals’ Forum fervent appeal to allow the post-graduate and other non-granted courses to be run with the help of temporary teachers, Vice-Chancellor (V-C) Dr S P Kane and Pro-V-C Dr Pramod Yeole were not ready to relax the conditions. The list include many prominent colleges.
The reason that colleges have not appointed even one regular teacher for these courses. Dr Kane argued that the University has recently appointed teachers on contractual basis in its departments. He expects at least one full time teacher to be appointed by the colleges, for the courses, admission to which have been freezed. The principals, however, are reluctant to appoint a regular teacher.
These temporary teacher after working for one full academic year, may demand salary as per UGC norms, which the college management may not be able to pay. While quoting the University’s example, Dr Kane overlooks the salaries paid to these teachers on contract (Rs 24,000 per month) are drawn from General Fund. The General fund is basically raised through fees paid by the students. The college cannot create such a fund and will have to charge hefty fees for these courses. Even from the fees paid by the students for non-granted courses, salaries as per UGC norms cannot be paid to the teachers. The University charges a part of the fees under various heads. The fees charged per student by the University include -- Annual fee, Students games, Ashwamegh, University union fees, medical check-up, Disaster Management Cell, e-services, Students medical Aid Fund, Students welfare fund and Students aid fund etc.
The decision of Dr Kane has surprised the college managements, as such a step has been taken only in RTMNU. The Principals’ Forum members stated that no other University has taken such a step to close down the courses which are not getting grants. The courses are being conducted with the help of temporary teachers only. Steps, however, are being taken to regularise fees for these courses. The decision is likely to affect about 70,000 students in four districts under the jurisdiction of the University.