By H. Mallikarjun (Sem. I)
Amid a large gathering of enthusiastic students and teachers, the Department of Telugu on Wednesday felicitated two of its senior faculty members — Prof. V. Nithyananda Rao and Prof. Surya Dhananjay — as they took over the reins at two esteemed state universities.
With the appointment of Prof. Rao and Prof. Dhananjay as Vice Chancellors of Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University and Veeranari Chakali Ilamma Women’s University, respectively, the tally of varsity academic heads produced by the Department touched a university high of 12.
Speaking at the event, Osmania University Vice Chancellor Prof. M. Kumar expressed support for mother tongue as a medium of instruction, at least until secondary level of education.
Prof. C. Kaseem described the event as a moment of bonhomie and said these were much needed. He expressed concern over the working of universities in state, and asked Prof Rao to fulfill student aspirations and Prof Surya to help women students rise as role models for girls in the state.
Dr. Kamalakar Sharma, Head of Department of Telugu, commended the senior professors on their achievements recalling the obstacles they had faced to study and how they have had illustrious careers in the university.
Prof. Veldanda Nithyananda Rao’s PhD thesis in 1994 explored the genre of parody in Telugu literature. He also supervised of five M.Phil.s and 6 PhDs. A recipient of the Gurajada Apparao Gold Medal in MA, he went on to author several critical essays, biographies and projects.
Prof. Surya Dhananjay began her journey with the department in 1999. She received doctorate for her research on ‘History of Banjara Literature in Nalgonda’ and has since written numerous books depicting history, culture and literature of the Banjara tribe and Telangana state as a whole. She has also served in administrative positions including the office of Women’s Hostel Warden and Director of Centre for Women Studies.
Prof. Rao reminisced moments shared with colleagues over his 28-year association with the university and thanked them for organising the event. He underlined the challenges of administration amid shortage of funds and personnel.
Prof Surya explained how the university gave career and personality to a girl from a village with no education, and moulded her into an executive head with integrity and responsibility. “The event certainly gave me a lot of confidence as I embark on a new journey”, she added.
Arts College principal Prof. Syeda Talath Sultana, and faculty members Dr. S. Raghu and Dr. A. Vijaya Laxmi also spoke at the event. A song written and presented by PhD candidate Ms. Sravani highlighted the selfless efforts of the two professors in driving many students to excellence.
VC flags declining quality
Vice Chancellor Prof. M. Kumar did some plain speaking at the felicitation programme. Referring to the problem of low attendance of students in the classrooms, Prof. Kumar said it was an open secret that class work had degraded across departments, and asked students to be regular to fully utilise the opportunity of studying in the University.
Prof. Kumar also underscored the declining quality of research in the university and attributed it to a lack of information on validation practices among scholars and an absence of faculty with certain national and global certifications.
Talking about recent appointment of heads of state universities, Prof Kumar stated that the selections were made purely on merit. He concluded with a positive statistic about the increasing enrolment of women students and talked about plans to build more women’s hostels on the campus if the graph continues to go rise.
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