Agartala, January 5 : There is a shortage of 289 faculty members in state government-run general degree, professional colleges and diploma level technical educational institutions. Chief Minister Prof. (Dr.) Manik Saha gave this information in a written reply to a question raised by Congress MLA Gopal Chandra Roy on the first day of the winter session of the 13th Legislative Assembly on Friday.
According to him, steps have been taken to mitigate the shortage of faculty in colleges under the Higher Education Department. The Higher Education Department has already recruited 103 Assistant Professors for General Degree/Professional Colleges and 57 Lecturers at various levels for Diploma Level Technical Institutes.
The Chief Minister said that recently initiatives have been taken to fill up 75 vacancies of Assistant Professors in various subjects in Government General Degree Colleges of Tripura. Also, to meet the acute shortage of teachers, the education department has already approved the college authorities to hire guest lecturers for the smooth running of the colleges for the academic year 2023-24. Already 632 guest lecturers have been appointed by the colleges. Initiatives have been taken to engage more guest lecturers for smooth running of the academic year in the college, said Dr Saha.
He also added that the total sanctioned number of posts of teachers in all colleges under the Higher Education Department is 992. 703 of them are currently working. As a result there are total 289 vacancies. In response to another question raised by Congress MLA Gopal Chandra Roy, the Chief Minister said that out of 25 higher education institutions run by the state government, nine general degree colleges have permanent principals.
