Address teacher shortage problem in Barishal medical college
Shortage of teaching staff in government medical colleges has become acute. Take, for example, Sher-e-Bangla Medical College in Barishal.
According to a report yesterday, 107 out of 205 approved posts in 72 departments are vacant and only 98 teachers are working to teach about one and a half thousand students of the college founded in 1968.
Because of this shortage of teachers, academic activities are seriously disrupted on the one hand and existing teachers have to reportedly work three times more than the assigned duties.
Not surprisingly, if the teachers are not recruited in adequate numbers, the quality of education in this medical college will be seriously hampered.
The students of the college cannot remain silent over the shortage of teachers and they have drawn the attention of the health service department and family welfare department to solve the crisis immediately.
It is really surprising to know that there are only seven professors against the required number of 48 professors in this college. Against the required 63 posts of associate professor, 39 are vacant, and there are 59 vacancies against 118 posts of assistant professor.
As for the lecturers, the number of vacant posts is 36 against 79 posts. It is still very disappointing to know that there is no teacher in the nephrology department of the college.
The students have enrolled themselves in this public medical college with hope that they would be able to pursue medical education seriously, but the existing fact regarding the teacher shortage has made them frustrated.
If the shortage of teachers is not resolved quickly, students will suffer permanently in terms of medical education. Their hope of becoming skilled doctors will not be fulfilled.
The teachers recruiting authorities of public medical colleges have only provided assurance in response to the demand of teachers from the Barishal medical college principal.
In fact, all medical colleges are suffering from a shortage of teachers, more or less.
To solve the existing problem, there is no alternative to increasing fund allocation for medical education and recruiting teaching staff in adequate numbers. This cannot be done all at once, but gradually the vacant posts must be filled.
