The architectural integrity of any higher education system rests upon the stability of its teaching workforce. In recent years, a growing trend has emerged where universities and colleges increasingly rely on ‘guest faculties’ to fill the gaps left by vacant permanent positions. By definition, a guest faculty is a temporary educator engaged on a lecture-wise or monthly basis, theoretically brought in to provide specialized industry knowledge or to cover temporary surges in enrolment. However, what was intended as a flexible, supplementary arrangement has metastasized into a structural dependency. This shift is particularly contentious when it involves the systematic re-engagement of retired professors.

While the impulse to respect and utilize the wisdom of veteran educators is good and intellectually sound, the practical fallout of this policy suggests a troubling disregard for the vitality of the next generation of scholars. The situation in Odisha serves as a stark microcosm of this national crisis. Data reveals a staggering shortfall in the state’s higher education workforce, with nearly 65 per cent of permanent teaching posts lying vacant across 17 state public universities. Out of approximately 2,003 sanctioned permanent positions, only about 782 are currently filled by regular faculty, leaving over 1,200 vacancies. To bridge this massive gap, the state has engaged nearly 1,000 guest faculty members across these universities alone.

The reliance is even more pronounced in newly established or upgraded institutions; for instance, universities like Odisha State Open University and Vikram Dev University in Jeypore have often had to function with zero regular faculty members in core cadres, relying entirely on guest teachers and retired professors. This high-stakes ‘patchwork’ management highlights an urgent need for the state to transition from temporary fixes to sustainable, permanent recruitment. Statistical trends across the global south and various developing economies indicate that the reliance on temporary teaching staff is no longer an anomaly but a standard operating procedure.

In many state-run universities, guest and contractual faculties now comprise nearly 40 to 50 per cent of the total teaching strength. According to recent educational census data, tens of thousands of qualified PhD holders are currently circulating through the system not as tenure-track professors, but as ‘academic migrants’ moving from one temporary contract to another. The sheer volume of these appointments masks a deeper crisis: the stagnation of permanent recruitment.

When institutions choose to re-hire a retired professor rather than opening a fresh vacancy, they are not just filling a seat; they are effectively closing a door on a young aspirant who has spent a decade preparing for that specific role. The arguments in favor of engaging retired teachers often center on the ‘wisdom gap.’ Proponents suggest that a professor with thirty years of experience brings a level of pedagogical mastery and institutional memory that a newcomer cannot replicate. There is also a fiscal argument, as re-engaging retirees often involves a fixed honorarium that is significantly lower than the full salary and benefits package required for a permanent new hire.

From an administrative lens, this is seen as ‘efficiency.’ Furthermore, in niche scientific fields or ancient languages, there may genuinely be a dearth of qualified young experts, making the veteran’s presence a necessity for the survival of the department. These ‘pros,’ however, are largely short-term fixes for long-term systemic problems. They prioritize immediate budget balancing over the health of the academic ecosystem. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 provides a clear, albeit challenging, roadmap for addressing these structural imbalances. It explicitly recommends that the harmful practice of hiring ‘para-teachers’ or those on short-term contracts must eventually be phased out to ensure that teachers are deeply invested in their communities and institutions. The policy envisions a move toward a permanent, tenure-track system where faculty is recruited through a rigorous, merit-based process.

While the NEP 2020 does suggest creating databases of retired scientists and educators to act as mentors or ‘specialized instructors’ for local knowledge, it emphasises that these roles should be supplementary. The core mandate remains the revitalization of the teaching profession by filling vacancies in a time-bound manner and ensuring that the ‘brightest and best’ are incentivized to enter the field through job security and a clear path for career progression. The ‘cons’ of this practice are far more systemic and devastating. The most immediate impact is the creation of a demographic bottleneck. When the top tier of the profession refuses to vacate their positions or is invited back immediately after retirement, the natural flow of the profession is interrupted. For every retired faculty member who returns to the lectern, a young scholar with a fresh PhD and contemporary research insights is pushed into the ‘gig economy’ of academia.

This creates a disillusioned class of young intellectuals who feel the system has betrayed them. If the brightest minds see that the path to a stable career is blocked by those who have already completed their tenure, they will inevitably turn away from teaching. We are currently witnessing a ‘brain drain’ where potential world-class educators are migrating to corporate sectors or foreign universities, not because they lack passion for teaching but because they cannot survive on the crumbs of the guest faculty system. Furthermore, the quality of education suffers under the guest faculty model due to the lack of emotional and professional investment.

A youngster appointed as a guest faculty member lives in a state of perpetual precariousness. They are often paid per lecture, sometimes at rates lower than unskilled manual labor and lack access to health insurance, research grants or even a dedicated office space. It is intellectually dishonest to expect teachers to ‘teach whole-heartedly’ when they are worried about whether their contract will be renewed next month. Teaching is not merely the delivery of content; it requires mentorship, research guidance and participation in the university’s growth.

A guest faculty member, treated as a disposable resource, is rarely motivated to go beyond the syllabus. They become ‘academic delivery agents’ rather than educators, and the students are the ultimate losers in this transaction. This reliance on guest faculties is a plague that threatens the very core of educational quality. It fosters a culture of sycophancy, where young teachers must remain in the good graces of administrators just to keep their temporary jobs, stifling the critical thinking and dissent that are essential to a university environment. The government must recognize that the education sector cannot be run on a ‘rental’ model.

The wisdom of the retired is valuable but it should be channeled through advisory roles or emeritus honors that do not occupy active teaching slots. The priority must shift toward the massive recruitment of permanent, full-time faculty who can build careers, conduct long-term research and provide the stability that students need. To conclude, the current trajectory of engaging retired faculty and temporary guest lecturers is a self-defeating strategy. It might save a few pennies in the annual budget, but it is bankrupting the future of the nation’s intellectual capital.

The government must take a decisive stand to withdraw the systemic reliance on guest faculties and instead invest in robust, transparent and regular recruitment cycles for young teachers. Respect for the elderly should not translate into the disenfranchisement of the young. A healthy education system requires the energy, digital fluency and fresh perspectives of the youth just as much as it requires the guidance of the past. If we do not act now to professionalize the entry-level teaching cadres and provide them with certainty and dignity, we will find ourselves with plenty of classrooms but no one left who is truly inspired to lead them.

(The writer is a former College Principal and founder of Supporting Shoulders)

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