Osmania University teachers school gasps for funds
The UGC has to fund these courses as well as pay salaries for the HRDC staff.
Hyderabad: Lack of funding from the University Grants Commission, compounded by the financial straits facing Osmania University, have combined to stall skill upgradation of teachers.
The Human Resource Development Centre, previously called Academic Staff College, at OU has not conducted a single course this year; they should have begun in June.
The HRDC usually conducts around 20 courses a year for college and university teachers to upgrade their teaching skills. The UGC has to fund these courses as well as pay salaries for the HRDC staff.
The UGC did not provide funds in 2013-14 and 2015-16, forcing the HRDC to borrow about '2 crore from OU. The HRDC cannot repay OU till the UGC pays it.
Prof A. Bala Kishan, HRDC director, said, “Due to lack of funds we have been unable to conduct any course this year. OU is not in a financial state to lend us money.”
He said the HRDC had sent the UGC the audit reports for the '2 crore borrowed from OU eight months back. “The UGC says it cannot help us because it has not received any money from the Union ministry of human resource development,” he said.
The teachers apply for the courses and are selected on merit. They are paid TA and DA for the courses which are sponsored by the UGC. Most of the 66 HRDCs across the country have not received funds for the current year.
This includes the HRDCs at Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, and Sri Venkateshwara University, Chittoor. The HRDC at Andhra University received reimbursement for Rs 1.3 crore recently, which was advanced to it by the university in 2007-12.