Shut student-starved Magadh University deps, says govt

GAYA: In view of the rationalization exercises jointly undertaken by the state government and Raj Bhawan to synchronise faculty strength, the state government has directed Magadh University (MU) to take the initiative for closure of all departments in the university and constituent units where less than 10 students have been enrolled in a particular subject.
As per the government scheme of things, students of the subjects/departments having less than 10 students on its rolls are to be transferred/tagged to a neighbouring institution to make higher education more cost effective. The government notification issued by education department joint secretary Jitendra Prasad wants university officials to complete, what it calls, the process of closure/unification and amalgamation to be completed during the ongoing academic session.
MU Registrar D K Yadav, while conceding the receipt of the government notification containing rationalization details regarding the post-graduate department and the 44 constituent colleges of the university, said that the vice chancellor has constituted a three-man committee to look into the whole gamut of rationalization and submit its report. The committee has been asked to submit its report at the earliest, said the registrar.
Asked about the rationale behind the constitution of the three-man committee to look into different aspects of rationalization including closure/unification/amalgamation of the departments and transfer of nearly 400 teachers from surplus to deficit institutions, the registrar said the rationalization exercise undertaken by the government was based on the figures of the year 2006.
Much change has taken place in these six years. Whereas the number of students has gone up between 2006 and 2012, the number of working teachers has gone down, as a sizeable number of teachers have retired and no fresh recruitment has been made for about a decade now. The last appointments were made as far back as 2003. Moreover, a PIL was pending in the Patna High Court and the university has also to submit a status report in the HC, said the registrar.
Meanwhile, the rationalization move has created ripples in the university circles, as about 25% of the university teachers are to be shuffled from one institution to another to give effect to the government proposal. A sizeable number of those slated to be transferred have managed choice posting all these years and would, in any case, be retiring in the next few years. Intense lobbying has begun in the university to minimize the rationalization impact, say sources.