31/08/2020 NI STHITIYE SETUP TEYAR KARVA BABAT & MUKHYA SIXAKO PASHETHI PRAMANPATRO LEVA BABAT GR
Pupil-teacher ratio in higher education worrying.Despite having registered a slight improvement over the past few years, the pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) in higher education institutions of Gujarat is a cause of worry.
The latest All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2018-19 states that with a PTR of 24, Gujarat ranks 26th among 36 states and Union territories of the country.
PTR is measured as the average number of students per teacher at a specific level of education in a given academic year.
Government sources admit that there has not been any recruitment of lecturers and professors in the past three or four years.
The process of recruiting professors is also cumbersome and lengthy.
It involves issuing advertisements, conducting written tests, holding interviews with candidates and finally issuing appointment letters.
According to latest statistics, there are around 2,000 vacancies of professors and lecturers in grant-in-aid colleges of the state alone.
Large scale recruitment has not taken place in grant-in-aid colleges for over a decade, say educationists.
Posts that have fallen vacant because of retirement or death have not been filled either.
Citing instances of the acute shortage of lecturers and professors, an educationist said that Ahmedabad-based Shahjanand College had 46 professors a few years ago. Today, there are just 18 professors, while the number of students has increased. Similarly, R H Patel Commerce College at Vadaj in the city has 2,300 students, with only 23 professors