With few students turning up for his classes for almost three years, a 33-year-old assistant professor at Nitisheswar College in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district has sought to return his salary of ₹23.82 lakh earned over the past 33 months after listening to his “conscience”.
Lalan Kumar, who teaches Hindi literature at the college under the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University (BRABU), said he took the step because of the “abysmal attendance” of students. He said his “conscience did not allow him to accept a salary without teaching the students for which he was hired”.
Mr. Kumar, an alumnus of Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University who joined the college in October 2019, handed over a cheque for ₹23,82,228 to Ram Krishna Thakur, the registrar of BRABU. However, the administration “refused to accept” the cheque and said there was no provision under which it could accept his request.
Situated at the heart of Muzaffarpur town, the college was established in 1970 and became a constituent of BRABU in 1981. Around 3,500 students are enrolled in undergraduate courses and 1,000 students have registered for the 10+2 course at the college.
Manoj Kumar, principal of the college, said: “I was never informed by the assistant professor regarding the issue [of student absenteeism]. He heads the Hindi department. If things were not right, he should have brought it to my notice first. He directly approached the registrar with the cheque and I got to know about it from the media.”
The principal said a desire to get transferred to the postgraduate department could be the motive for Mr. Kumar’s move. Mr. Kumar did not respond to requests for comment from The Hindu.
‘Vacant teaching posts’
The lecturer’s offer to return his salary has brought into focus the problem of student absenteeism dogging the 17 State-run universities. Nawal Kishore Chaudhary, a noted social scientist who headed the economics department at Patna University, said the issue of “zero attendance” raised by Mr. Kumar is prevalent in most of the colleges in the State.
“The higher education system in Bihar has virtually collapsed. All stakeholders — teachers, students, the State government and the university administration — are responsible for this decline. The system is running with the help of guest lecturers. A large number of teaching positions are lying vacant in all universities. Hardly any appointments to the posts of associate and university professors have been made in the past decade,” Mr. Chaudhary said.
