KOLKATA: Eighty candidates attended the counselling session for the post of principals in 111 colleges in the state on Thursday afternoon. They are expected to take over the reins of the colleges by the beginning of next month. The candidates were called in two batches of 40 each at 11am and 2pm, respectively.
The successful candidates will be appointed as heads of colleges affiliated to several universities in the state, including Calcutta University. Professors from top-ranking colleges and universities had applied for the posts that fell vacant over the past few years.
West Bengal College Service Commission had directed colleges to send them the details pertaining to the vacancy at the top, which included the duration of the vacancy and the reason why vacancy was created. The commission drew up a list of 80 candidates after conducting interviews of over 150 applicants in December.
“The candidates get to opt for the colleges of their choice depending on their position on the merit list. The lower the position the lesser the options,” said one of the applicants who teaches statistics in a Kolkata college.
There are over 550 colleges in the state, out of which 111 do not have a principal. According to a senior official of the higher education department, it was hampering the academic and administrative activities of those colleges. “A teacher in charge has limited powers compared to a permanent principal who can allot budget for infrastructure expansion or lobby with the affiliating university to start new courses that are in demand,” said the official.
Students’ body elections are due in almost all colleges in the state and this could be one of the reasons the government has sped up the process of appointing principals in colleges. “The party that controls the students’ unions controls a big part of the young brigade. It helps a ruling party to a have a principal at the top who is “friendly” to the ruling dispensation,” said the principal of a south Kolkata college.
Some of the colleges where the principals will be appointed are affiliated to universities like Calcutta University, Burdwan University, Rabindra Bharati University, West Bengal State University, Vidyasagar University and Kazi Nazrul University.
Some of the Calcutta University colleges like Rani Birla Girls’ College, Bangabasi Morning College, Surendranath College and Seth Soorajmull Jalan Girls’ College do not have a permanent principal currently.