SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, July 26: As the then Governor of Jharkhand, the current President of India Droupadi Murmu took several steps for the betterment of the tribal populace. She discussed the issue of teachers’ scarcity in the Department of Tribal and Regional Languages (TRL) at Ranchi University (RU) and instructed the then Director of JPSC to hire teachers for the department on a contractual basis.
When asked about it, the present coordinator of the departments, Dr Hari Oraon said, “Dr Ramesh Kumar Pandey was the then Vice Chancellor of the university. After Governor Murmu was chosen governor, he visited her as a courtesy call, during which she discussed the department. Soon, I and Dr TN Sahu would accompany Dr Pandey in his meetings with Governor Murmu.”
Dr Oraon added that when things didn’t go as planned and there were still many vacancies, she suggested the department hire teachers on a contractual basis for the department.
“Ajay Kumar Singh, the then education secretary along with her advisors, keeping in mind the vacancies in other departments, suggested that teachers be hired on a contractual basis for not only the department but for the university itself. Soon by 2017, the contractual hiring of teachers began in the university,” he said.
Furthermore, while talking about the history of the department, Dr Oraon said that the department was established in 1980; however, Dr Ram Dayal Munda was then the Head of Linguistics, at Chicago University in the United States of America. He was contacted to become the first Head of the Department. Even though he agreed, and was ready to begin work, he could not join the university many months after the department was established. This was because of his prior commitments in America. Dr B P Kesari was then made the HOD-in-charge for the time being before Dr Munda joined.
When asked of the present conditions of the department, he said, “The department now has been divided into nine separate departments of which five including Santhali, Mundari, Kurukh and Khadia are tribal languages, while regional languages include Nagpuri, Kurmali, Khortha and Panchparganiya.”
Dr Oraon further explained that the Ho language requires five teachers but does not have a permanent teacher but four teachers are on contract. Five teachers are required in the Santali language, but there are only two permanent teachers.
“Mundari language requires five teachers while the department has one permanent teacher and two contract teachers. There is a requirement of five teachers in the Kurukh language department but it has one permanent teacher and two contract teachers. There is a need for five teachers in the Khadia language department, but the department has one permanent teacher and two contract teachers,” he said.
He further said that the Nagpuri language department requires five teachers, but the department has one permanent teacher, two contract teachers and one guest faculty. There is a need for five teachers in the Kurmali language department, but the department has one permanent teacher and two contract teachers.
Similarly, five teachers are needed in the Khortha language, but the department has one permanent teacher and four contract teachers. Five teachers are required in the Panchpargania language however, there is no permanent teacher in this department but three contract teachers.
Seven of these nine departments have HODs, of which only four have PhDs. These include Nagpuri, Khadia, Kuramali, and Kudux. Khortha will soon have one as well as the present HOD will soon have one.
