Merely 11% of IIT-B faculty from reserved categories: RTI

Mumbai: Only about 11% of the faculty at IIT-Bombay belong to the reserved categories. Data obtained from IIT-B, in reply to an RTI plea filed by All India OBC Students’ Association earlier this month, revealed that of the 775 filled posts, only 84 are held by teachers from the SC, ST, OBC and EWS categories. This shows a significant under-representation of reserved-category communities among IIT-B faculty, while a large number of students belong to these categories, said student groups. Of the total 1,225 sanctioned teaching posts, 450 are vacant at the institute.Representation at the entry-level assistant professor rank is relatively higher than that at professor level. The same is true for several other centrally funded technological institutions. Student groups have raised concerns that the lack of adequate representation among faculty could allegedly also affect the mentorship and support available to students from the communities.