New govt arts colleges reopen for1st yr students sans subject teachers

New govt arts colleges reopen for1st yr students sans subject teachers

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:10.02.2021 

After months of online classes, thousands of first year students finally entered college campuses for in-person classes on Monday. But for 2,000 students in 10 new government arts and science colleges, in-person classes began without subject teachers and in some cases without any furniture too.

Ramar, a BComm student in one of the colleges, said the institution just took attendance the first two days and no classes were held. After months of attending online classes at neighbouring colleges, Ramar, like many of his peers, was looking forward to in-person classes. “We thought that offline classes would be better than online classes, but the first two days were disappointing,” he said.

Pothum Ponnu, another student, said her college told students that teachers would be appointed by next Monday. “One faculty member gave orientation,” she said.

While students were able to still learn something with online classes, with reopening, these classes have come to a halt, a student said.

As of Tuesday, the six new colleges in Rishivandiyam in Villupuram district, Ranipet, Sankarankovil in Tenkasi district and Srivilliputhur in Virudhunagar district, Tharangambadi in Karur district and Kuthalam in Nagapattinam district have just one faculty member per college. The other colleges have two or three faculty members, a far cry from the allotted 17 teaching posts per college.

“I am the only faculty member in my college. I have to open the college and put out chairs for students and take attendance and give orientation. It was really difficult to manage more than 200 students all by myself,” said a faculty member in charge of one of the new colleges. The faculty member rented chairs for 10 days as there was no furniture in the college.

Some new colleges postponed semester exams expecting more faculty members. “But, there is no chance in terms of faculty members and infrastructure. We have to prepare the students for upcoming semester exams. The government can depute some faculty members or appoint guest lecturers to help rural students,” another faculty member said.

Sources in the higher education department said the directorate of collegiate education is in the process of transferring faculty members to the new colleges.