Staff shortage, faculty skipping duties hamper education at GDC Tulail

Bandipora, Apr 14: The Government Degree College in far-off Tulail in the Gurez Valley of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district is a “nightmare” for the students who have been suffering for want of lecturers.

Even though the college, which started functioning in 2019, has a permanent faculty for an English lecturer and other faculty on a contract basis, “no one shows up,” the students from the Tulail Tehsil told Greater Kashmir.

The college serves as a “ray of hope” for the marginalised community, but the state of affairs, according to the locals in the college, is heartbreaking.

Many students from far-off villages like Gugran, Husungam, Badugam, Malingam, GG Sheikh, Buglinder, Saradaab, Baduaab, Neeru, Abdullan, Sheikhpora (the location of the college), PTL, Burnai, and other small hamlets come to attend the college, some even spending almost 200 rupees on cab fare, but return disappointed.

With transport arrangements near to nothing in several remote villages, some students have to walk almost 25 kilometers daily. A few students said that they leave home during the wee hours and return home around 10 pm in the hope that they will be taught in the college, which is often “not the case.”

This newspaper learned from the aggrieved students that the staff, mainly lecturers and the head of the institution at the college, do not show up. However, some of the non-teaching staff who run the administrative affairs remain present. At times, they are the ones who perform roles of “superintendents and invigilators” during exam time, locals complained. The students said they face “immense problems” as the syllabus remains incomplete.

With exams around the corner, the students shared their frustration, claiming that the college was not making alternate arrangements in terms of online classes or persuading the faculty to attend the college.

The same scenario has continued for three years now, they said.“We depend on college faculty as we are not able to avail tuitions here,” one aggrieved student said.

Farooq Ahmad, who holds the additional charge as Principal of the Government degree college in Tulail, said that the college faces a shortage of faculty.

“We have one permanent faculty of English while three are vacant,” he told Greater Kashmir, adding that the rest of the staff was on contract, besides they operate guest faculty arrangements.

He said the lecturer of history is involved in a court battle "trying to stay his order to join the college." Ahmad shared that the college had its other problems, one among them being remoteness, besides being snowbound for most of the time.

He said the faculty also had an accommodation problem, which was adding to the woes. Besides that, some of the contractual staff “refuse” to attend the college, with some even “running away.”

Principal hopes the problem for staff “will be resolved by this year” after the under-construction residential quarters are completed.

He, however, assured that within two or three days, staff will be arranged for the college so that the syllabus for the session is completed and students are no longer made to suffer.

“It’s under my consideration and will be done,” he said.