‘No students in class’, star Bihar professor wants to return 33-month salary of Rs 23 lakh

Patna: Lalan Kumar received an award for academic excellence when he graduated from Delhi’s Hindu College in 2015. He went on to do his post graduation from Jawaharlal Nehru University, before acquiring an M.Phil and a doctorate degree from Delhi University.

Most would, therefore, consider him well qualified for his job as an assistant professor at the Hindi department of the government-funded Nitishwar Mahavidyalaya, or college, in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district.

The reason — according to the letter, dated 5 July — is that “the attendance in the class is almost zero and I am unable to fulfil my duty of teaching despite my desire to teach in the class”. ThePrint has a copy of the letter.

Kumar also mentions in the letter that he had previously raised requests for a transfer to another college since he was very disappointed with the condition at Nitishwar Mahavidyalaya.

According to the assistant professor, when he asked students about the reason for their absence from class, “some attributed it to the fact that they live in far off places, while most said that they go to coaching institutes” to study. “The students also said that given a chance, they would prefer moving out of Bihar,” Kumar told ThePrint.

There are 17 state government-funded universities in Bihar and six central universities, according to academics. Academics in the state told ThePrint that during Nitish Kumar’s tenure as state chief minister, while there has been focus on opening engineering and medical colleges across the state, general colleges have been neglected.

Meanwhile, Kumar told ThePrint that his letter has caught the V-C by surprise. “The V-C, H.P. Pandey, told me that the return of salary will require a committee to look into the matter,” said the assistant professor.

On Wednesday, Pandey was quoted in the local media as saying that the absence of students from classrooms was a serious matter and he would form a committee to look into the matter. He, however, made no allusion to Kumar’s desire to return his salary.

ThePrint also spoke to the principal of Nitishwar Mahavidyalaya, Manoj Kumar, who said, “I came to know about the development through the local media,” stressing that it was for the university authorities to look into the matter.

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‘No students in class’

Kumar said, “My college has over 100 students in each of the three-year graduation courses. Yet ever since I joined here, only two or three students have turned up. It cannot be said to be a class of students.”

He added: “I have tried to get parents to send their wards to class, but it did not have the desired results. I even got scolded by some parents, and was told to not bother their wards. I even started a WhatsApp group urging them to come to class. Nothing happened. How can I impart the learning I received in Delhi when there are no students in the classroom?”

Academics point to the condition of colleges to explain the absence.

Patna University, Bihar’s premier university — which counts many state leaders from across parties among its alumni, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar — has a 40 per cent shortage of faculty members, according to professors at the university.

“The salaries of teachers are delayed by at least four months. The teacher either joins a coaching institute or stops going to their college,” said a college teacher, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The situation highlighted by Kumar in his letter is true of institutes in many small towns across the state, said professor B.K. Mishra, a retired Patna University teacher. The situation has become worse since the Covid lockdown, he added.

“Students who can afford to go outside Bihar, do so. Only those students who cannot afford to do so get enrolled in these colleges,” said Mishra.

Why have students stopped coming to class

Meanwhile, Kumar’s letter has become the talk of academic circles in the state.

“One might take this development as an abnormal situation. But the fact remains that students are demotivated from coming to the classroom,” said D. N. Diwakar, former director of the A. N. Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna.

Diwakar added: “I remember while holding a workshop in Jhanjharpur in 2006, in a local college, the teachers did not go to class and students did not come either. It shows that higher education is big business (because students pay hefty amounts to enrol themselves in coaching institutes). It’s only the degree that matters. The 75 per cent compulsory attendance (mandated by universities) remains so only on paper.”

Academicians point out that the drop in attendance started during socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan’s 1970s movement against misrule and corruption in the state government, which saw massive participation from students. The problem became more acute in the late 1980s.

Former professor of economics N. K. Choudhary recalled that even when he took over as head of the department of economics at Patna University in 2004, attendance was an issue. ‘I had to ensure compulsory attendance for the students to return to the classroom,” he said.

Listing the reasons students have stopped coming to the classroom, Choudhary said, “It is the lack of quality teaching. Most teachers are not competent enough to give quality education. The other reason is lack of administration in colleges.

He added: “If the administration wills it, the students will return to the classroom within a year. Also, there is a trend of liberal marking in examinations. The thrust is not to examine the merit of the students, but to ensure everyone passes.”

The former professor applauded the ethical stand taken by Kumar, but added, “The solution is not transferring Kumar to another college, but to ensure that students and teachers return to the classrooms.”

(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)

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