Kashmiri language faces neglect due to faculty crunch at KU
Srinagar, Apr 20: Once bustling with faculty strength, the Kashmir University's Kashmiri department has faced a drastic neglect over the last few years, with staff crunch now reaching alarming levels.
The move, students say, has exposed the varsity authorities' brazen disregard for promotion of Kashmiri language and literature.
The University's official website is enough to expose how the Kashmiri department now has merely two permanent faculty members, including one professor and an assistant professor.
Four other faculty members have been appointed on a contract basis.
"This department just a few years ago had five professors, some of them very eminent in their field of study and research. But today you can see the neglect on this front," said a former teacher at the Kashmiri department, who wished not to be named.
He said the department has been literally reduced to a rubble, with students and research scholars suffering on account of quality teaching and research.
The revelation regarding the faculty crunch at the Kashmiri department has come at a time when an RTI disclosure has exposed the University authorities' lackadaisical attitude towards filling up vacant positions which have remained vacant for the last five to six years now.
In the last three years especially, no effort has been made to fill up these positions, especially in critical language departments like Kashmiri and Urdu, the sources said.
The University of Kashmir is grappling with a substantial staff shortage, as nearly 20 percent of its 2,859 sanctioned posts were found to be vacant as of February 2024. This information was disclosed in response to a Right to Information (RTI) query, which highlighted the university's struggle to fill key academic and administrative positions.
While the University has filled up some positions of assistant professors recently, insiders allege a pick-and-choose policy in the recruitment process.
"Departments with fairly good strength of staff were given preference in the recruitment process while departments like Kashmiri and Urdu were ignored," a KU Professor said.
He said that holding seminars on promotion of Kashmiri language by varsity administration will not bear any results unless they address the basic cause.
"The department of Kashmiri has several research scholars who aren't able to complete their doctoral degrees in time. Contractual staff cannot undertake research supervision. So overall, the department has been completely ignored contrary to expectations from the local Vice Chancellor," said the former professor.
Incidentally even the Head of the Department (HoD) does not belong to the department and the charge is presently being held by a professor of the Linguistics department as an additional charge.
When contacted, in-charge HOD, Kashmiri, Prof Adil Kak admitted that there was shortage of faculty in the department but said he was "trying his best to manage things within the given resources".
"Previously there were some issues with conducting the recruitment process which caused the delay," he said.Prof Kak however could not give a timeline for filling up of vacant posts by the University.
Vice Chancellor (VC) Kashmir University, Prof. Nilofer Khan when contacted said the recruitment of permanent faculty was in process and Kashmiri department would be given priority. "Recruitment is in process and interviews are starting again. I will try to complete recruitment process on priority," VC KU told Greater Kashmir.
