Agartala: Severe shortage of teachers in all the 24 degree colleges of Tripura continue to mar the college level education in Tripura as there has been no mass recruitment of college teachers in all subjects since the year 2011. What has happened thereafter is stray recruitment based on reserved categories at intervals of three or four years and since adequate number of reserved category candidates is not available these posts have been lying vacant and ceased to exist because of unscientific norms followed by the finance department.

This is the scenario at a time when the Centre is preparing to introduce new education policy from next year which will require large number of faculty members for the new subjects being introduced.

Sources in the higher education department said that the students teacher ratio in a college is supposed to be 1 : 30 but in Tripura at present the ratio is 1 : 80. On the shortage of staff sources said that there are 3700-4000 students in the Agartala based college but there are only 40-50 teachers including PGTs. In Kailasahar college which is very old there are only very limited teachers of science, similarly in Dharma Nagar and in Fatikroy college.

Out of altogether 24 colleges science stream is there in 12 colleges but all these are adversely affected by acute shortage of faculty members. In all subjects there is acute shortage of teachers. This is at a time where there is no dearth of eligible and qualified candidates but the higher education department does not recruit teachers even in places of those who go on retirement.

Sources said that due to a lack of policy and proper appreciation of the gravity of the problem the government is not even contemplating recruitment of staff for the colleges and whenever the issue is mooted the finance department stands in the way. The aggrieved and overworked college teachers as well as eligible candidates hope that the chief minister Dr Manik Saha who himself is an educated and sensitive person and a former professor will take positive steps to fill up the huge vacancies in the colleges of the state.