According to the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE), 3,500 out of a total of 15,165 posts are lying vacant in government colleges across the country.
DSHE officials said 60 of the 306 government colleges are running without principals and three colleges do not have any vice-principals.
Such a sorry state prevails in most government colleges and one of those is Tala Government College in Satkhira.
For 1,500 students, this college has only one Bangla teacher and one English teacher, and is operating without a principal.
Shamim Hossain, an assistant professor of the college told the Dhaka Tribune that more than one class is often held for Bangla and English due to the shortage of teachers.
“It is difficult for a single teacher to teach 1,500 students,” he said.
The college has no teacher for some major subjects. It has only 22 teachers for 42 posts.
Requesting anonymity, a teacher of the college said the lack of a principal is a major hindrance to the smooth execution of academic and administrative tasks.
Guardians said because of shortages of teachers in government colleges, they have no option but to send their children to private colleges that have high tuition fees.
“My daughter’s monthly tuition fee is Tk2,000. It is hard for me to afford this but I have no other way as the quality of education in government colleges is not up to the mark,” said Delwar Hossain, a grocery store owner at Mirpur 6 in the capital.
Teachers at government colleges also admit that students now prefer private colleges to public colleges.
Professor KM Rezaul Huq, principal of Gouripur Munsi Fazlur Rahman Government College, said local students are more eager to go to nearby private colleges than to get admission into his college.
“Facilities at state-run colleges must improve. Sometimes, students at these colleges cannot attend classes during the rainy season because of poor condition of buildings,” he said.
“We have 18 teachers in our college to fill 28 posts,” said Rezaul, adding, “We do not have any teacher to teach social welfare.”
DSHE Director General Fahima Khatun told the Dhaka Tribune that many posts at government colleges have become vacant because people occupying those posts have gone into retirement.
“Another reason is that many teachers are employed in the urban areas and posts in rural areas remain vacant. Some of the vacant posts are posts for lecturers and those will be filled after the BCS examination,” she said.
“We are trying our best to solve these problems,” she added.