| DHARWAD: The state government has decided to appoint 930 lecturers to government first grade colleges. The finance department has given a green signal to appoint 430 lecturers during the first phase. The government will soon issue notification in this regard, said minister for higher education RV Deshpande on Sunday.
Deshpande said that there is a delay in appointing lecturers to colleges following the amendments made by the Union Government to Article 371 (J). As per the amendment, job reservation should be created to the candidates from Hyderabad-Karnataka region. Now, the cabinet has solved all the technical hurdles and the recruitment process would begin soon, he said.
Asked about the state government halting the recruitment process for the posts of professors and associate professors in Karnatak University, Deshpande said the process has been halted to bring in more transparency into the recruitment drive. At present, candidates are given marks ranging from 12.5 to 40. This process is more complex and has led to confusion. Hence, the government is mulling over implementing uniform counselling process for these posts. The recruitment process will restart after the new measure is implemented, he added.
There are 3,500 lecturers' posts vacant in first grade colleges and in universities. The government is filling up 11,000 guest lecturers posts in a phased manner, he said.
He denied allegations that the government had withheld the salary of the guest lecturers serving in various colleges and stated that the government had already released Rs 54 crore towards the payment of salary of the guest lecturers.
On Teachers Training Academy in Dharwad, Deshpande said this academy was announced by chief minister Siddaramaiah during his budget presentation. There is a need for a full-fledged building and staff to start the academy and it may require another five months to start the process.
Deshpande said that Siddaramaiah had launched a new education programme titled 'Naipunya Nidhi' and under this programme, the government aims to impart training in job and life skills to over 3 lakh degree students every year. He said there is a mad rush at the job fairs being held at regional level. However, rural students and those from semi-urban areas lack job skills, communication skills, life skills and hence are unable to get jobs in reputed industries. Naipunya Nidhi scheme will be comprehensive in nature and would make the students industry-ready, he added.
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