The recently appointed full-term vice-chancellor of Jadavpur University, who began his tenure on Monday, announced his intention to swiftly take action to recruit teachers, given that 35% of the teaching posts are currently vacant.

According to Chiranjib Bhattacharjee, the recruitment of teachers has been stalled for the past two and a half years as JU did not have a full-term vice-chancellor who could initiate the drive.

JU has 890 approved teaching positions, yet there are only 580 teachers available.

"Now we have to start recruiting. Or else students will continue to suffer," Bhattacharjee said.

The syllabus and student load have increased with the launch of the four-year undergraduate programme in 2023, in keeping with the National Education Policy.

"Students are suffering for this," a professor said.

A professor of chemical engineering at Jadavpur University, Bhattacharjee was appointed its vice-chancellor on October 29, but he took charge on November 3.

On his first day in the office, Bhattacharjee mentioned that filling the open teaching positions would be one of his main priorities.

"Since the expiry of Suranjan Das's tenure (in 2023) as the VC of the institute, JU has not had a full-term VC in the past two-and-a-half years. Teacher recruitments did not take place in between. Now the exercise has to be resumed," Bhattacharjee said.

In between, JU was run by the authorised VCs appointed by the Bengal governor unilaterally in his capacity as chancellor of state-aided universities.

Partha Pratim Roy, secretary of Jadavpur University Teachers' Association, said that the association members met the new VC on Monday and urged him to initiate the recruitment process at the earliest.

Asked about the installation of the CCTV cameras, VC Bhattacharjee said: "I would first go through the court orders before taking any decision."

On June 19, Calcutta High Court directed the university to approach the education department for funds to install additional CCTV cameras on the campus.

The need to bring the entire campus under CCTV surveillance was felt when a first-year student allegedly died because of ragging in the university’s main hostel in 2023.

The demand grew louder when a student drowned in one of the water bodies on the campus this September.

The education department last week sanctioned ₹68 lakh for the installation of 70 CCTV cameras on its campuses in Jadavpur and Salt Lake.

Bhattacharjee said there was also an urgent need to fill the posts of officials, like the registrar, the dean of students, and the deans of the various faculties.

"We will reach out to the former students more and more as the university is encountering a serious funds crunch," Bhattacharjee said.