Govt again pushes IIMs for reservations in faculty
Pushing once again for faculty reservations in the premier Indian Institute of Managements (IIM), the Human Resource Development ministry (HRD) has written to all the campuses asking them to increase the representation of members of the SC, ST and OBC communities by starting a special rolling advertisement on their websites.
Sources said this is to ensure that individuals can apply anytime in the year.
The letter also hit out at campuses for the lack of any major action taken in the contentious matter of faculy reservations.
IIMs have also been asked to hold a special recruitment drive at least once a year to fill up these posts. The institutes have been asked to send the ministry a report on action taken within a month.
“If we have a rolling advertisement in place, SC/ST and OBC candidates will be able to apply anytime as there is no last date for it. The move will help increase their numbers in the IIMs,” said a senior HRD official.
Many of the country’s 20 IIMs have resisted introducing reservation in appointment of faculty, citing quality concerns.
The letter points out that has been no appreciable progress in getting more members from these categories despite it being a constitutional obligation.
The letter further states that the issue of reservation in the teaching posts in IIMs has been under examination for sometime in the government.
“It is seen that in some institutions there is not even a correct assessment of numbers of SC, ST, OBC teachers in the faculty so all IIMs have been asked to get an accurate assessment of number of faculty members from SC/ ST/OBC classes at least,” said a senior HRD official.
In addition to this, the ministry has asked IIMs to actively solicit applications from fellows from SC, ST, OBC communities in IIMs and other business schools.
“As a medium term measure, IIMs can focus on having more fellows from SC, ST, OBC so that they can become prospective faculty members in the institutes too,” the official explained.
The government in 2008 asked all centrally funded institutions, including Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and IIMs, to set a quota for SC, ST and OBCs in teaching positions.
The letter states that the purpose of the move is to to correct the situation of these classes being under-represented in the teaching posts.
In 2013, the HRD ministry had written a letter to all directors to take appropriate action for appointments after placing the issue before the Board of Governors (BoG).
In 2016, again the ministry sent two letters in April and June on the subject. However, the issue is yet to be resolved completely.