Even as the Andhra Pradesh government has fast-tracked the recruitment process for teaching posts in universities, a sense of insecurity has gripped the academic consultants (teachers on contract) over the likely fallout of the proposal.
The consultants, who are already on a warpath, have boycotted classes and staged demonstrations across the State, after their representations seeking preference apparently fell on deaf ears.
Adding to their woes, the rationalisation exercise taken up by the Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) has understandably rattled the academic fraternity, as it led to the slashing of several teaching posts. The older universities such as Andhra University and Sri Venkateswara University have lost nearly 200 and 150 teaching posts respectively in the massive exercise due to merger of departments.
For Andhra University, the 926 faculty posts—503 assistant professor posts, 274 associate professor posts and 149 professor posts—will now stand rationalised at 726 posts including 414 assistant professor posts, 201 associate professor posts and 111 professor posts.
For SV University, the total sanctioned strength of 572— 314 assistant professor posts, 162 associate professor posts and 96 professor posts—has been officially brought down (read ‘rationalised’) to 422 (269 assistant professor posts, 100 associate professor posts and 53 professor posts).
It was in 2007 that the last recruitment was done in the SVU. Since then, the academic consultants recruited on contract basis have been running the show.
For Sri Padmavati Mahila Viswa Vidyalayam (SPMVV), the rationalisation has, in fact, led to an upward revision in the number of posts due to the positions in self-financing courses getting official sanction. The university has a total strength of 187, out of which recruitment will be done for 107 vacancies. As many as 22 posts are likely to be sanctioned soon in the engineering college.
The Sri Padmavati Mahila Visvavidyalayam (SPMVV) has a specific issue and it is like the Damocles’ sword hanging on the head of male academic consultants. The all-women university is said to recruit only female candidates, which means the male teachers on contract will be shown the door.
Many consultants are averse to taking the written test to prove their expertise, a process that they say is not mandatory as per the University Grants Commission (UGC) rules. Those teaching specialised subjects will have to prepare for even the general subjects by studying them after a gap of nearly two decades.
Threat perception
In the absence of the Minimum Time Scale and any form of security to their jobs, these consultants in their late forties and mid-fifties feel let down. “The efforts to improve academic excellence through recruitment are welcome. But the government cannot throw us out, having extracted our services for over a decade,” rues an academic consultant.
Irrespective of the reservation status indicative of their social background such as BC, SC or ST, many internal candidates feel threatened. If the roster system is not favourable, the existing ones will have to leave. The 10 marks proposed to be added for the internal candidates having ten years of service benefits only after they take the written test and if the rule of reservation is accommodative.
The prolonged negligence on the part of three successive governments in not taking up recruitment for nearly 15 years has led to such an impromptu measure.
“The government can take a humanitarian view and come up with a time scale for the existing academic consultants and fill the remaining vacancies through the recruitment process,” said an academic consultant, who was visibly fatigued after participating in a series of demonstrations.
