According to Directorate of Technical Education, out of 38 public polytechnics, 28 currently have no principal while 20 have no vice-principal. Similarly, some 140 out of 256 posts of instructor too lie vacant.

Bangladesh Polytechnic Teachers Association (BPTA) says the number of vacant posts in the government-run polytechnics is higher than the one claimed by the directorate.

According to recent BPTA findings, 31 out of 38 institutes have no principal and 25 have neither a principal nor a vice-principal.

Of the government-run polytechnics, 20 are revenue-based while the rest are operated under different projects.

BPTA says about 50 percent of instructor posts in 20 old polytechnics financed by government revenues also remain vacant for long.

"If you visit Mymensingh, Sylhet, Barisal or Comilla polytechnics, you will see many departments are being run by not more than one or two teachers," said BPTA President Shamsur Rahman.

Echoing the view, Principal of Mymensingh Polytechnic Institute Muzahed Ali told The Daily Star, "Only one teacher runs the entire electronic technology department at my institute whereas at least a chief instructor, two instructors and five junior instructors are needed to teach students properly."

He said 25 percent of total faculty posts in Mymensingh Polytechnic Institute are now vacant.

The Polytechnic Teachers Association alleged that irregular promotion and recruitment, failure to formulate an acceptable gradation list for the teachers, complicated recruitment procedure and above all, the concerned authorities' indifference to the needs of the polytechnics have accounted for the prevailing teacher crisis.

According to the recruitment rule, a teacher shall not be promoted to principal if he lacks three years' experience as a vice-principal, the BPTA president said, adding that similarly, a teacher must have at least five years of experience as a chief instructor to be promoted to vice principal.

"Despite having the qualifications, many teachers do not qualify for the position of principal as they didn't have the opportunity to gain required experience thanks to irregular promotions,"

Shamsur Rahman blasted the education ministry and the Directorate of Technical Education for their failure to reach consensus on framing a teacher gradation list, absence of which, he said, has slowed down the promotion process for the polytechnic teachers over the years.

Besides, the government has also failed to fill the vacant posts of principal and vice-principal at the 18 polytechnic institutes under projects. Many teachers with required qualifications and experiences do not apply for the posts, fearing that they may lose their jobs with expiry of the projects on June 30, 2007.

A special rule for the project-based institutes stipulates that recruitment papers will become invalid with the expiry of the projects.

Though officials at the Directorate acknowledged many of the statements made by the teachers, they denied that academic activities across the polytechnics are being severely hampered due to dearth of teachers.

The officials said the insufficient number of teachers in the project-based institutes should not be viewed so negatively as the institutes have come into operation only recently.

Those institutes have just had the inaugural batch of students enrolled and that is why they do not need a large number of teachers right away, they argued.

The directorate officials, however, said so far only one qualified candidate has been found against an advertisement for the positions of principal in the 18 polytechnic institutes.

"The situation at the 20 old government polytechnics will improve considerably as the government will soon complete recruitment to 225 posts of junior instructor and instructor," said Abul Bashar, director general of Technical Education Directorate.

Of those posts, 110 junior instructors have already been recruited while 115 wait to be appointed soon, he added.

Many principals and vice-principals in the conventional government polytechnics have gone into retirement recently, creating a huge vacuum to be filled, he noted.

About the vacant posts of principal and vice-principal in the project-based institutes, Abul Bashar said the government will soon place advertisement for the second to fill the posts.

"However, none of the public polytechnics are having difficulties in terms of functions as other faculty members have been immediately tasked with carrying out the responsibilities of the posts left vacant," he said.

BPTA has submitted a memorandum to the prime minister and the state minister for education of late, demanding an urgent initiative to fill the vacant posts in the public polytechnics. In the memorandum, they threatened to go for tougher programmes in case of the government not taking necessary measures to this end.

Expressing concern over the teacher crisis at the polytechnic institutes, President of Institute of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh Rafiqul Islam said, "Quantity as well as quality of the diploma engineers will come down alarmingly if such an acute shortage of teachers persists."