AICTE asks colleges to submit teachers’ IDs
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 2
Alarmed at rising incidence of fake faculty in certain private technical colleges, sector regulator All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has asked all institutions under its ambit to submit identification cards of teachers.
The AICTE has in a communication asked college managements to submit PAN or Aadhaar card details of each faculty member they claim is on their rolls.
The move has been made mandatory for future renewal of permissions to increase intake and run listed courses. The next round of approvals will be subject to the submission of the IDs to enable verification of faculty members by AICTE regulators.
AICTE chairman Anil Sahasrabudhe told The Tribune: “We have written to the institutions to submit PAN or Aadhaar cards of faculty members. These details are to be uploaded along with applications for renewal and continuation of technical courses. The submission of IDs will be mandatory. The decision has been taken in the wake of mass evidence of ghost faculty in a range of institutions. In fact, maximum complaints about the working of technical education institutions relate to fake faculty and ghost faculty. This is affecting education standards.”
The AICTE regulates 90 per cent of technical education in India minus the central technical schools such as IITs, NITs and others.
There are 4,599 undergraduate technical institutions under AICTE ambit in India, of which 3,384 are engineering and technology colleges followed by 1,029 offering pharmacy; 105 architecture and 81 hotel management courses.
At the postgraduate level, 3,364 out of the 7,929 existing institutions under AICTE offer management degrees followed by 2,132 offering engineering; 1,567 offering MCA; 841 pharmacy and 25 for courses in architecture.
Experts admit institutions suffer faculty shortages because of which ghost faculty is created. Accreditation expert AK Nassa says the shortage of qualified faculty is the biggest challenge for India’s higher education sector.
Nassa rues trends of private technical institutions getting professors with PhDs in non-technical streams to teach students enrolled in technical courses.
