SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, Aug 9: Dr Shahnaaz Zabi, an Assistant Professor and Head Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication in a private university here, in a letter to Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais regarding the state of media studies in Jharkhand State Universities, has pointed out that none of the Mass Communication department in any of the state-owned universities or colleges have or ever had permanent teachers since their establishment. She has also requested a meeting with the Governor in this regard.
Lagatar24.com has a copy of the letter.
Notably, it has been more than 15 years that universities including Ranchi University (RU), Kolhan University (KU) and Binod Bihari Mahto Koylanchal University (BBMKU) have opened their mass communication departments and are yet to hire a permanent teacher. Meanwhile, other state universities including Vinoba Bhave University (BBMKU) and Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee University (DSPMU) have also been following the same suit.
When asked in this regard, Dr Zabi said, “RU and other universities have mass comm department for the past 15-20 years. They also have other branches like filmmaking and video production without permanent faculty. They also provide MA and PhD in such situations in the name of allied courses.”
“Teachers who teach here are either from Hindi or English departments or guest faculty. Here, almost all the guest faculties teach without a PhD degree and even are co-resource persons. The department is also not full-time like other language departments but is considered vocational departments and hence are ‘self-finance’ departments,” she added.
Every department has two professors, two associates and four assistant professors. However, in the case of mass communication, no such positions have even been sanctioned in any of the state universities other than BBMKU. Also, even after sanctioning the posts several years back, BBMKU took out advertisements, only to hire contractual teachers and is yet to call people for an interview.
Regarding PhD degrees provided in said colleges, Dr Zabi said, “Here, a supervisor is chosen from an allied course along with a co-supervisor who is usually a guest faculty without a PhD themselves. These supervisors guide the PhD students in Jharkhand universities.”
When questioned why posts are not sanctioned for the permanent professors in the Mass Comm department, RU Registrar Mukund Chandra Mehta said, “Vocational courses have contractual teachers hired for the mass communication course. Similar to BBMKU, even RU has posts sanctioned for permanent professors; however, without government permission, the hiring of permanent teachers cannot be done.”
On the other hand, officials at the Higher and Technical Education department of the state, said, “Permanent teachers are not hired in vocational courses because these are self-financing courses. Here the university bears all the expenses to run the department and even has a comparatively higher fee than other departments. These courses can bear the running costs on their own.”
When asked how such universities provide PhD degrees wherein research is done under a supervisor with a PhD, officials said, “Those teachers who don’t have a PhD are not eligible to become even co-guides for research scholars. If this happens anywhere, it is a violation of the university principal. If students are provided with a supervisor, who is an English or Hindi professor, it may be because the students want a PhD in said subjects.”
When informed that allied departments provide supervisors to research students from these departments even if the PhD is in Mass Comm she said that this may happen if the subject is a part of the research or because the said department is not in the college, the student is registered in other departments of a similar background.
However, when asked the same, RU’s DSW R K Sinha said, “The supervisors are selected on the basis of the subject that the research will be presented in. For instance, if a student wants to present the research in Hindi, English or even Bengali, the supervisor will be of that subject. Along with this, a co-supervisor will be selected who is a permanent teacher from a government recognized institution.”
He further stated that guest faculty cannot be the guide for a scholar. Co-supervisors here are chosen from mass communication departments from universities all over India.
Meanwhile, Dr Zabi is yet to receive confirmation from the Governor in this regard. She claims that the office has stopped responding or picking up her calls as well.
