Ghost faculty: Dental council to seek staff info every 3 months

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, October 3

The Dental Council of India (DCI) has directed all dental colleges to submit details of the entire staff every three months to it to tackle the problem of ghost faculty, failing which strict action would be taken against the erring college. The move has been taken to stop colleges hoodwinking the council during annual inspections for recognition of BDS/MDS courses. The colleges would appoint temporary teaching staff for the inspections, and then remove them later.

In a letter to the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), the council said the removal of teachers would lower the education standards in dental colleges.

The council has directed the dental colleges to maintain full permanent staff strength and infrastructural facilities throughout the academic session. The council, a statutory body, has ordered colleges to submit details of the faculty every three months.

Sources revealed the body failed to conduct regular inspections of dental colleges, which it is supposed to carry out to ensure minimum standards in dental education. This led to several colleges reducing the teachers’ strength after the inspection.

With the falling education standards, over 51 per cent of BDS students couldn’t clear their annual examinations this year. Since the teachers’ strength is poor, many seats remain vacant in dental colleges. Out of the 1,190 BDS seats, 540 remained vacant. At a Muktsar dental college, only 13 of the 100 BDS seats were filled.

Dr Raj Bahadur, Vice-Chancellor, BFUHS, said the problem of ghost faculty was also present in medical colleges. It posed a big challenge for the MCI. In the latest MCI meeting this week, the MCI talked about adopting e-governance to track the teaching faculty.