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Title: Need to fill up the backlog vacancies of faculties in higher educational institutions in the country.
SHRI P.K. BIJU (ALATHUR): I invite the attention of the House towards an important national issue regarding the acute shortage of the faculties in IIT, IIM, IISC, Central universities and other higher educational institutions. Education is a prime concern in all countries and also it is one of the major indicators of the development of the society. Quality of our higher education is a matter of concern and it is also lagging behind some of the developing countries. Our Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education is about 11.8 while in South Korea, US and China, it is 91, 82 and 22 percent respectively. Hon’ble Minister of Human Resource Development stated inside and outside the House that the primary duty of the HRD Ministry is to increase the present GER ratio to 30% by the end of 2030 and to improve the eminence of higher education. For the achievement of this target he announces various reforms in higher education like allowing FDI and FEP in education. The alarmingly low percentage of the GER in comparison to developed countries is due to the low accessibility to education of the poor and marginalized class and caste in our country.
Our higher education centres are facing acute shortage of faculties. Out of 9825 sanctioned posts in 15 Central Universities about 3761 posts are vacant for the last few years. For example, Delhi University alone accounts for 965 vacancies against the 1702 sanctioned posts and in BHU there are 905 vacant posts against 2395 sanctioned strength. The situation is not different in IIT, IIM, IISC, Central Universities and other higher education institutions. The opening up of the new Central Universities and IITs will make the situation worse. This will certainly reduce the quality of the education. While United States spending 2.6%, Europe 1.2%, Japan 1.2% of GDP on higher education, our country spends only 0.5 – 0.7% of GDP in higher education and out of which 30 to 40% are unutilised.
Hence, I urge upon the Central Government and Ministry of Human Resource Development to take immediate steps to fill up this backlog of the faculty in higher education institutions and allot adequate amount in higher education for improving the quality and accessibility.