Hyderabad: The position of principal in the Arts College at Osmania University seems to be cursed, with not many professors willing to take it up.
The reason behind this seems to be some student leaders who take to any means possible to threaten the principal if things do not go their way.
While instances of barging into the principal’s chamber and talking disrespectfully is common, a former principal revealed that there have even been instances of students throwing papers on the principal’s face and lifting chairs to threaten the principal of physical assault.
It thus does not come as a surprise that in the past one year, six professors have been made principal — while some of them were about to retire in a few days, others voluntarily resigned from the position in a few months.
Reportedly, about four years ago, CCTV cameras were installed in the principal’s chamber to keep a tab on the menace, but these were destroyed by students within a few days.
The quality of research has also gone down in Arts College. There are 3,000 research scholars in Osmania University of whom nearly 2,000 are in Arts College.
A large chunk of these students have been “research scholars” for more than five years, some nearing 10.
As per university rules, a regular PhD student has to finish research in four years while it is five for part-time students.
Two years of extension is given to regular students and one year to part-time students.
However, the university’s Internal Quality Assessment Cell (IQAC) does not collate data on PhD students to maintain a record of the quality of PhDs.
A former principal of the college said, “Most of the PhD students who get scholarships from ICSSR, JRF and non-NET UPE scholars are sincere. Among others, most are not regular; they plagiarize research content, conduct research work on redundant topics and are not serious about research.
“Some of the students are such that their guides do not dare to question them. If the principal does not belong to a socially backward section, it becomes tougher. Students from socially backward castes threaten of complaining of atrocity if we dare ask them anything,” the former principal added.
