Kerala higher education shock: 140 Assistant Professor posts to be scrapped under guise of faculty redeployment

KOCHI: The Higher Education Department's latest initiative to transfer and redeploy faculty members in government arts and science colleges has triggered widespread concern, amidst revelations that the move is a veiled attempt to eliminate 140 Assistant Professor posts across various disciplines.

The decision stems primarily from recent structural changes, including the abolition of M.Phil courses and the exclusion of weightage previously granted for postgraduate teaching. Under current government directives, any faculty position that fails to meet a mandatory workload of 16 hours per week is designated as "surplus." The new order mandates that the vast majority of these surplus posts will be permanently abolished, with only a fraction being redistributed to other institutions. Critics point out that this policy fails to account for University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines, which explicitly set the workload for Associate Professors and Professors at 14 hours per week.

Commerce and Economics hardest hit

The commerce faculty faces the most severe reductions. Out of 55 surplus positions identified in the department, only 29 will be redeployed to other colleges, resulting in the permanent loss of 26 posts. The economics department is also set to lose 33 positions out of 46 identified surplus vacancies.

Other departments face similar cuts. The mathematics department will see 10 of its 20 surplus posts abolished. In the Hindi department, a sweeping reduction will eliminate 10 out of 11 surplus positions, leaving just one intact. Both the Malayalam and Arabic departments are scheduled to lose nine posts each, while the history department faces a reduction of 21 positions.

A department-by-department breakdown reveals the extent of the restructuring. In English (21 surplus posts), Chemistry (14), Statistics (7), Political Science (9), Psychology (2), and Travel and Tourism (1), all identified surplus positions will be successfully redeployed, resulting in zero net losses. Conversely, fields like Physics will lose four posts, Botany will lose six, Zoology will lose five, Geology will lose three, and Tamil will lose four positions.

The sweeping cuts have raised serious concerns among educators regarding the future quality of higher education and the increased burden on remaining faculty members.

Responding to the growing apprehension among the academic community, Higher Education Minister Roji M. John stated that the government intends to resolve the issue amicably. The administration plans to initiate formal discussions with teachers and various service organisations to reach a consensus before finalising the redeployment process.