Ranchi University is gifting roses to absentee teachers to shame them into taking classes

These days, teachers working at constituent colleges and postgraduate departments of Ranchi University (RU) are not getting brickbats, but roses for playing truant.

The varsity authorities have adopted this practice of Gandhigiri — made famous by Sanjay Dutt’s 2006 film Lage Raho Munna Bhai and finding wide usage in present day society — to shame the teachers for ignoring their duties so that they realise their mistakes and start taking regular classes.

Conceived by pro-vice chancellor of Ranchi University N. Raziuddin, the idea has been ratified by vice chancellor L.N. Bhagat and forms a part of a three-phase drive to discipline the teaching community.

“According to our new strategy, we will not be pulling up absentee teachers at the very first instance and rather give them an opportunity to rectify themselves. To begin with, we are offering roses to teachers whenever they are skipping classes,” Raziuddin told The Telegraph.

RU has formed a three-member team, comprising of dean of students’ welfare and two varsity officials, which is being sent to various colleges under it and also postgraduate departments for random inspections. If the team members catch a teacher not taking classes, they offer roses to him or her in a bid to pursue them to be more discipline.

In the second phase, the varsity will issue a showcause notice to the teacher concerned if he or she again remains absence. Finally, the teacher will be transferred to some other college if he or she fails to toe the line.

“As of now, our team offered flowers to four teachers of JN College, Dhurwa, a few days ago. This is an ongoing process and we are in touch with the principal of the colleges to find out whether the teachers are taking regular classes or not. The team also visited colleges in Simdega, Gumla and Bundu,” the pro-vice chancellor said, adding that teachers have been asked to not only sign the attendance register, but also put down the time of their arrival.

Both the vice chancellor and the pro-vice chancellor have “master routine” of all colleges, which makes it easier for them to keep a tab on the teachers.

Asked what prompted the measures, Raziuddin explained that as appointment of teachers would take a few months because the HRD department was yet to initiate the process, this was the only way of ensuring that syllabi were completed on time.

Officials added that RU has declared 2014 as “academic year”, which means that teachers have a bigger role to play now to improve the quality of education. Besides, with more than 300 teaching posts remaining vacant, the varsity is hard-pressed to make up for the loss in some way.

There are 15 constituent colleges and 22 postgraduate departments under the varsity.