No takers for 6,889 Arts seats in colleges

Against 9680 seats available in the city, only 2791 students will be taking admission to the arts stream. Despite the improvement in the Class X results, the number of students applying for the arts stream was has been absolutely minimal. On the other hand, the science stream has received an overwhelming response. As a result, 1120 seats of the science stream have been increased this year to accommodate the large number of students.

The picture however is exactly opposite in the arts stream, putting teachers on a sticky wicket. "There is every possibility that arts stream teachers will be surplus this year," said V M Gaikwad, assistant education director. "The number of vacant seats has increased compared to last year, which will probably worsen the issue. We will conduct muster verification in August-September and only after that the final status will be clear," he said.

There is a formula to decide the workload of a teacher, which includes factors like number of periods and students. Accordingly, if a teacher becomes surplus, the first option is he can be transferred to the other branch of the same educational institute where there is dearth. The second option is inter-institute transfer and the third one is inter-regional transfer where one can be transferred to the other district.

According to Prakash Pawar, vice-principal (arts stream), Fergusson College, the trend shows that alarm bells are ringing for the traditional subjects. "It's high time we give a practical face to the subjects of arts stream," he said.

"There are so many options for a student after Class X in technical or professional education. With the concept of unaided divisions in place for Class XI science stream, these days even a low scorer can get science stream by paying high fees, which was not the case till five years back," he said.

Pawar also pointed out that the flow of students who want to do UPSC or MPSC, too do not prefer arts stream these days. "In last few years, most of the students getting selected for UPSC or MPSC are from medical and engineering background. It has sent a signal that one can clear the competitive exams while studying in the professional streams too. Although it is a positive sign, the very fact is the students who used to come to the arts stream are diverted," he said.