The university teacher associations have taken umbrage to education department minister Ashok Choudhary's remark that teachers who do not put in a minimum of five hours a day will be taken to task.

Choudhary was attending at function at AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies on Sunday where he asked students to complain about teachers who did not put in at least five hours in their institutions. He said the department would take action against such teachers.

"The statement made by the education minister is a direct assault on teachers," said All India Federation of University & College Teachers' Organization (AIFUCTO) national general secretary Arun Kumar. "His department should speed up on recruiting teachers at universities instead of making such statements."

According to Arun, there is serious shortage of teachers at different colleges under the state universities with many departments functioning under just one teacher.

"KLS College Nawada has three teachers at present against the sanctioned strength of 21 teachers," he said. "At MD College, there are only two teachers against the sanctioned 32, while ANS College-Nabinagar has only four teachers against the strength of 37."?

He further said academic activities were largely affected because of the shortage of teachers.

Governor Ram Nath Kovind had asked teachers to spend additional time at colleges to help students out in their studies last month, in a bid to improve the academic atmosphere.

Patna University Teachers Association general secretary Anil Kumar said the minister's attack on teachers was baseless.

"An assistant professor needs to take 16 classes in a week while an associate professor has to take 14 classes in a week according to the University Grants Commission (UGC) directives," he said. "But a teacher at Patna University generally takes 25 to 30 classes a week because of the shortage of teachers."

Anil, a professor of geology at Patna University,also said the education minister was least interested in providing better infrastructure to the colleges but was adept at making scathing remarks.

"There is shortage of funds and departments lack infrastructure because of this," he said. "College labs don't have chemicals or proper equipments."