Govt hopes to find solution to non-teaching staff stir

PATNA: Human resource development (HRD) department minister Hari Narayan Singh said on Friday that the department would initiate process for filling the vacant posts of teachers in the state’s various constituent colleges in the next academic session 2011-12.
Expressing satisfaction over the withdrawal of strike by the college and university teachers, he said that negotiations with the striking non-teaching staff would also yield fruits.He said that the solution to their problems would be found by Monday. "This would bring the academic life on the campus back to normal," Singh said, adding: "The government is aware of the problem of higher education. The basic aim is to give quality education to students to prevent their flight to other states."
The state has 252 constituent colleges falling under nine universities. "The greatest problem plaguing the colleges and universities used to be delayed admissions, late examinations and untimely results of the examinations held. The use of academic calendars in the colleges and universities had been forgotten for the last two and half decades. It had vitiated the academic atmosphere in the colleges," Singh said, adding: "Beginning from 2008, the things have hugely improved."
Singh, who was addressing a meeting of vice-chancellors of the state’s 10 universities on the day after the successful completion of the 2009-10 academic session in the colleges, said that 95 percent of the results of all the examinations held have been published. The remaining five percent of results, too, would be out by July 31, he added.
Singh said that the academic calendar for the 2010-11 session was being prepared and would be ready soon. The HRD officials and VCs of all the universities were in active consultation in this regard. "We must stick to academic calendar," he said.
He told the VCs to ensure that teachers were on duty, took their classes and students also attended the classes. "We don’t want to put any pressure on the universities. It should be done at the level of the universities themselves," Singh said.
In their separate deliberations, each of the VCs or their representatives presented the brief details of the academic atmosphere in his or her domain.
L N Mithila University VC Padmasha Jha said that R K College at Madhubani had no teachers for 15 courses. B R Ambedkar University (Muzaffarpur) VC Rajdeo Singh pointed out that the HRD officials had ordered the deduction of his salary, along with that of other university staff, because he had questioned the order of the HRD.