BHUBANESWAR: At a time when the state government is going all out for the promotion of skill and technical education, large-scale vacancies in both teaching and non-teaching categories have posed a major hurdle in the quality of teaching and management in these institutions.

From offering advanced courses at the World Skill Centre and launching drives at schools to improve enrolment in ITIs, encouraging female students’ admission in technical institutions and organising skill conclaves for the students, the government in the recent past has taken numerous measures to give fillip to skill development and technical education in Odisha.

However, at the same time, it appears to have missed giving adequate focus on addressing the staff crunch in many of these key institutions. Data furnished in the Assembly indicate so as a number of key technical universities and institutions as well as some engineering colleges like PMEC Berhampur, GCE Keonjhar, GCE Kalahandi and IMIT Cuttack are grappling with faculty shortages.

As per the statistics of the Skill Development and Technical Education (SDTE) department, around 37 per cent i.e., 394 out of 919 teaching posts in technical institutions are lying vacant. Similarly, around 90 pc teaching posts in the Institute of Management and Information Technology (IMIT), erstwhile College of Accountancy and Management Studies (CAMS), Cuttack is lying vacant as the institute has only two teachers in place against the sanctioned 18.

On the other hand, 72 pc teaching posts in BPUT, Rourkela is also lying vacant. Out of the sanctioned strength of 25, BPUT at present has just seven teachers. Government College of Engineering, Keonjhar, too, has a vacancy of around 69 pc as its present teaching strength stands at 20 against the sanctioned strength of 64.

Odisha University of Technology and Research (OUTR), erstwhile CET has around 50 pc vacancies while Parala Maharaja Engineering College, Berhampur also has around 40 pc vacancies in teachers. In IGIT Sarang, the vacancy is about 46 pc as 92 out of 184 teaching posts in the institute are lying vacant.

Close to 30 pc teaching positions in VSSUT Burla and 32 pc such posts in GCE Kalahandi have also not been filled as yet. SDTE Minister Pritiranjan Gharai, however, has informed the house that the posts lying vacant in government technical institutions will be filled through OPSC and OSSC.