There has been what it seems like a dearth of teachers in the Maharashtra universities and colleges. Around 75,000 for the aided college teachers are vacant, as alleged by the Maharashtra Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organisation (MFUCTO).
As per University Grants Commission report, there is a need of 1.5 lakh regular teachers in the state, but much against that, hardly 50 percent of the quota is currently full, the others are either vacant or have teachers on a temporary basis. In fact, since 2015, the state government has put a partial ban on the recruitment of teachers, and then in 2017, the state declared a full ban on the same. Post this, colleges in Maharashtra have stopped recruiting permanent teachers, and have been managing with teachers on clock hour basis.
To this Dr. Tapati Mukhopadhyay, the president of MFUCTO has issued a statement saying that around 10,000 from the state participate in “court arrest” action on September 4, at the Mumbai University Fort campus.
Dr. Mukhopadhyay further said, “Through this protest, we want the government to immediately lift the ban on appointments, and fill up all vacancies on a regular basis in strict conformity with the teacher-student ratio.”