PROMOTIONS STALLED, TEACHERS LOOK FOR GREENER PASTURES

Vadodara: Not very long ago, teachers from across the country made a beeline to join M S University. This was the university with a glorious past where revolutionary Aurobindo Ghose taught French and went on to become the first Vice-Principal of Baroda College in 1905.Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Dr I G Patel headed the economics department of MSU's Faculty of Arts.This glory is fast dimming now. Temporary teachers, who after years of service and frustrating wait, are leaving the university for greener pastures and secure jobs, is a known phenomenon. Even permanent teachers have started leaving their secure jobs to either join other public universities in the state or private higher education institutes. Many went to Sardar Patel University (SPU) in Vallabh Vidyanagar, the Central University of Gujarat which recently shifted its campus to Vadodara, the Shri Govind Guru University (SGGU) in Panchmahal, or private universities which have expanded within the city.Insiders say this is happening as the long wait in getting due promotions under the career advancement scheme (CAS) has left permanent teachers frustrated. MSU's famed Faculty of Fine Arts, for instance, has seen an exodus as most of the teachers deserted the Maharaja Ranjitsinh Gaekwad Institute of Design (MRID).MRID's former director Dr Jayaram Poduval, who served as dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts as well, will be joining city-based Parul University this month as professor and dean of the fine arts faculty. For almost 30 years, Poduval was a teacher at MSU's fine arts faculty. But his own promotion under CAS remained stalled for more than a decade.When Dr Vijay Kumar Srivastava, the controversial Vice-Chancellor (VC) who resigned facing a legal battle, took over, he promised teachers ‘Tea with VC' (on the lines of ‘chai pe charcha'). "Forget having a decent cup of tea, even the most senior ones on the campus faced constant insults, they were ridiculed during meetings," said the dean of a faculty.Teachers from the Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Technology and Engineering, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Faculty of Family and Community Sciences, among others, have also left MSU. After waiting for five years, an assistant professor eligible for direct recruitment as an associate professor left the English department to join SGGU in Panchmahal. After nearly a decade-long wait, another female teacher from the department of education joined SPU as an associate professor."In recent times, around 15 permanent teachers and around 40 temporary teachers or those who were earlier working on five-year contracts have left the university either due to uncertainty or exploitation," said a teacher from the Faculty of Arts. Deans who were on the verge of retirement were under constant pressure to remain tight-lipped or bow down to pressure."Usually, VC signs service books of deans so that they continue getting their usual increments as professors. But service books of deans were not signed for months together," he said, adding that if the dean of one faculty got his service book signed at the time of retirement after a lot of pleading, the dean of another faculty was forced to run from pillar to post for over six months post-retirement. The board of management during its recent meeting has taken a serious note of this unhealthy practice. Yet, damage was done.Contractual Positions AbolishedIn 2014, when professor Yogesh Singh was the VC, the university introduced a new category of teachers, over and above the regular and temporary teachers that it had. These teachers were appointed as full-time graded assistant professors on a five-year contractual basis with the provision of renewing their contract for another term of five years. The teachers were paid Rs 40,000 as remuneration with a Rs 2,000 incentive rise every year.After professor Parimal Vyas took over, teachers in this category were paid Rs 50,000 as monthly remuneration. "But Srivastava abolished this category and even reduced the remuneration paid to such teachers to Rs 40,000. At the same time, the university did not issue any fresh notification for hiring new teachers under this category. Those teachers who had no option were forced to search for alternatives as temporary teachers. Those who had better opportunities left the campus," said a senior teacher.