The professors in various postgraduate departments in the faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Kashmir (KU) have expressed disappointment over the delay by the varsity authorities in restructuring the faculty.
The professors said that the restructuring was associated with the implementation of New Education Policy (NEP) for the university departments.
The senior professors of the different social science departments said that the KU administration in 2007 brought two faculties – sciences and social sciences – within the purview of internal reforms.
“However, for reasons unknown, only science faculty was reformed and it was restructured into four small size faculties while no such decisions were taken regarding the social science faculty,” a senior professor at the varsity said.
The professor said, over the years, the science faculty was restructured and divided into four faculties, which was followed by the appointment of separate deans for each faculty.
“However, the faculty of social sciences continues to function with the same old norms. No restructuring was done of the faculty despite having more than 14 departments associated with it,” he said.
The professor said such moves give rise to disproportionate share for science faculty in the decision-making process in the university and other top institutions as well.
“During any meeting, the social science faculty gets ignored due to less representation of deans of the faculty. The faculty of science has representation of over four deans while social science has only one. With the result, social science faculty gets ignored,” the professor said.
He said the social science faculty was not reformed or restructured and 14 departments had been kept under a single umbrella of social sciences.
“This has given rise to serious issues of undermining the honour and dignity of senior professors of the social sciences department,” he said. “The junior professors in the science department are privileged who rise quickly in their careers and exercise greater power in the university system.”
The professor said that they had already appealed the vice chancellor to look into the matter and resolve it in the new context of the New Education Policy.
The professors in the social science departments said the restructuring of the social science faculty had no financial implications at all but the issue was purely of internal governance.
“The position of the dean in the university is merely honorary. The departments like music and fine arts and some research centers have suffered due to this lopsided policy,” he said.
Talking to Greater Kashmir, Dean Academic Affairs KU Prof Akbar Masood said the university had already constituted a committee of deans of various departments to submit the recommendations on the matter.
“However, till date, the committee has not submitted its report on the matter. Thus, there was no headway in it so far,” he said.