The six constituent colleges of Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU), started in Madurai, Virudhunagar, Theni and Dindigul districts, with the primary objective of providing access to quality higher education for students from rural areas, continue to reel under myriad infrastructural and staff-related issues.
Staff associations and students allege that despite highlighting the issues several times, measures to improve the situation still do not seem to be in sight.
To begin with, barring the constituent college in Andipatti, which is the oldest one, the other five colleges are functioning in rented buildings, community halls or inside premises of schools.
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“There is space shortage and these colleges do not even have adequate toilet facilities,” says a staff member of the constituent college in Tirumangalam, which is functioning inside a school.
A student from the same college says while girls have access to a poorly-maintained toilet, boys have to relieve themselves in the open near compound walls. “For emergencies, we have to use toilet in Tirumangalam bus stand,” he adds.
Students complain that library and lab facilities are non-existent in these colleges. Though officials claim that labs are not needed since the colleges do not offer science courses, students and staff members say they need lab for ancillary subjects.
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“Four colleges offer B.Sc in Mathematics, in which Physics is an ancillary subject. Students are taken to nearby private colleges for demonstration. They get to see the lab only twice or thrice,” says a staff member of the constituent college in Aruppukottai.
G. Rajesh, Theni district secretary of Students Federation of India (SFI) who passed out from the constituent college in Andipatti, says the quality is seriously compromised in these colleges. “I did B.Com (Computer Applications). There was a computer lab but there was no proper internet connection. The college could not help anyway in developing my skills,” he says.
Another issue plaguing the colleges is non-availability of permanent teaching staff. “Leave aside teachers, none of these colleges have qualified Principals. They are either retired professors working on a honorarium basis or inexperienced staff working for a consolidated pay of Rs. 15,000,” says P. Murugesan, secretary of MKU College unit of Madurai Kamaraj, Manonmaniam Sundaranar, Mother Teresa and Alagappa University Teachers’ Association (MUTA).
“There are discrepancies in salaries paid to the teaching staff. While some work for a consolidated pay of Rs. 12,000 to Rs. 15,000, others work as guest lecturers for a salary of Rs. 125 per hour,” he says.
“Even this paltry salary is not paid throughout the year as many of them don’t get paid during vacation,” he adds.
A. Kathali Narasinga Perumal, working on a consolidated pay basis in Andipatti constituent college, moved the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court requesting a direction to the MKU to pay the guest lecturers as per University Grants Commission (UGC) norms.
“As per the norms, a guest lecturer should be paid Rs. 1,000 per hour with a cap of total salary not exceeding Rs. 25,000 per month. Last December, The High Court directed the MKU to pass a revised order for salary as per UGC norms within 12 weeks. Until now, the MKU had not acted on it,” he says.
Claiming that he had been working without any increments in salary, Mr. Perumal says quality could not be expected when the salary is meagre. “Last year, I coordinated a meeting to discuss issues faced by the staff of constituent colleges of universities across Tamil Nadu. Most of them lamented about facing societal and family problems due to poor salary despite holding masters degrees and even doctorates,” he says.
Another staff member from the college says such low salaries often pushes the teaching and non-teaching staff to indulge in corrupt practices with tacit approval from university officials.
“None of these colleges follow the transparent admission procedures stipulated by the Directorate of Collegiate Education. Instead, admission procedures are compromised to leave room for corruption,” the staff member said.
S. Kalyanaraman, secretary of Zone-1 of MUTA, says despite tall claims by the governments during inauguration of the colleges, nothing has been done to provide quality education. “The constituent college in Sattur was announced as an UGC model college. Till today, it does not even have its own building. The governments just want to show numbers,” he says.
Similarly, Mr. Rajesh, says Andipatti government college was announced as a government college but later became an MKU constituent college. “When the MKU claims it faces funds crunch, how can it maintain the constituent colleges. These should be made full-fledged government colleges,” he says. Responding to the complaints, a senior MKU official says a majority of the infrastructural issues will be sorted out in the near future since at least three colleges are soon moving to their own buildings built with all facilities.
“Certain issues like salary are policy level decisions. There are some issues that can be sorted out by the university. However, they are getting delayed due to the absence of Vice-Chancellor,” the official adds.