12 of 16 govt engg colleges in Ahmedabad are headless, alleges Congress

Twelve of the 16 government engineering colleges in the city don’t have a principal while 65% of the teaching posts in these colleges are vacant. This was revealed by the Gujarat Congress on while slamming the double standards of the ruling BJP government over the issue of granting autonomy to several government engineering colleges in the state.

“On one hand the government is speaking of granting autonomy to colleges while on the other it is doing everything in its power to ensure that universities lose their autonomy,” said Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi. He said that granting autonomy for educational excellence is a great idea but such autonomy can’t function in light of lack of teachers and infrastructures for colleges.

“How can colleges function when even 70% of the class 3 and 4 posts in colleges are lying vacant?” asked Doshi. He said that while government was quick to announce granting of autonomy to six government and one grant-in-aid college, the technical education department was yet to do any work in this direction.

“Before granting autonomy, the department has to invite the views of students and their parents too but this too has not been done,” said Doshi. He said that the colleges have not even got an NBA accreditation and the government is talking of autonomy. He further added that the government while talking of automomy has done everything in its power to curtail the freedom of universities.

“The University Common Act is a case in point. It is also working towards reducing the role of chancellors when instead what is needed is a better role for them and ensuring non-political appointments,” said Doshi.