Rushikesh Patel

Gujarat’s government engineering colleges face a serious shortage of teaching staff, which is not being paid heed to by the state government.

As per the details provided by the state’s higher and technical education ministry on Feb 29, a staggering 1,010 staff positions remain vacant in the state’s 16 government engineering degree colleges. Out of these, 50% of the positions are of teaching staff.

8 engineering and 26 diploma engineering colleges run by the government are operational without a principal in Gujarat.

These colleges observe a vacancy of 316 Class-1 professor staff, as only 218 personnel are recruited for 534 sanctioned positions.

Similarly, there are 193 unoccupied positions for Class-2 professors, 300 for Class-3, and 301 for Class-4 professors.

A total of 1,647 positions were sanctioned for Class-2 professors, 475 for Class-3 professors, and 260 for Class-4 professors.

The current staff strength of Class-2 professors stands at 1,274, 175 for Class-3, and 59 for Class-4 professors.

Ahmedabad’s notable engineering college, LD Engineering, has a vacancy of 31 Class-1 professors. The current staff strength is only 7 out of the total 38 positions.

More than 63,000 college seats unoccupied

On the final day of the budget session in the state assembly, the ministry also released the number of seats remaining vacant in Gujarat’s government, and private, and granted degree-diploma engineering colleges.

The numbers suggested that a total of 63,312 engineering seats remained vacant in 2023 under the central admission process system (CAPS).

Against a total strength of around 70,000 in degree colleges, only 30,070 seats were filled in 2022, while 39,340 remained empty.

Similarly, only 39,340 seats were filled in 2023, while 38,811 remained empty.

In diploma colleges, 27,005 seats remained empty in 2022 and 23,501 in 2023.

These numbers were observed against an approximate seat strength of 69,000, out of which only 41,156 were filled in 2022 and 45,722 were filled in 2023.

These numbers are expected to be even lower this year, as Class 12’s Group A board exams saw a huge slump in the number of students.

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