The Ministry of Human Resource Development is said to be considering getting a Kendriya Vidyalaya started early on the campus of the National Institute of Technology – Tiruchi (NIT-T).
Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), an autonomous body functioning under the ministry, had recently communicated to the NIT-T that it could start a KV only in project mode wherein the institution would have to meet the recurring and non-recurring expenditure out of its own budget.
Newly-started NITs and other central institutions, including the NIT-Puducherry at Karaikal and the Central University of Tamil Nadu at Tiruvarur, had been sanctioned Kendriya Vidyalayas under project mode, mainly to attract good faculty.
The NIT-T, which is now 50 years old, faces the same situation.
Shortage of staff
The institution has been facing shortage of teaching staff in recent years after the intake had to be increased to comply with 27 per cent OBC reservation norms.
There are now 235 teaching staff members against a requirement of 450 against the strength of 5,240.
Institution sources say the recruitment norms were stringent and it was not easy to find the required number of teaching faculty for the vacancies.
But there was scope for the institution to attract a good number of applications from the prospective teachers if a KV was in place, say NIT-T sources. In the absence of a KV, the teaching faculties, particularly the younger ones, are not inclined to live in the quarters and prefer to travel from the city.
It is now months since the NIT-T authorities readied a full-fledged building on the campus facing the Tiruchi-Thanjavur National Highway with the expectation that the KV would be sanctioned from the coming academic year.
The building has not been occupied for any other purpose so far with the hope of securing the sanction from the Centre.
“We have represented to the Human Resource Development Secretary about our eagerness to start the KV at the earliest and the Ministry was willing to consider NIT-T as a special case,” NIT-T Director S. Sundarrajan added.
