Constraints Perceived by Agricultural Scientists in Teaching Undergraduate Students in Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India

Abstract

Teachers are the ultimate medium of knowledge delivery to students. They connect the students to harness the facilities available in the institution. The teaching staff of agricultural universities uniquely performs multidimensional functions than any other type of educational institutions. Similarly, their nature of work is also unique. Hence, the working environment of the teachers should be analysed periodically to create a conducive working condition. Thus, the study was conducted with the prime objective to document the constraints of the agricultural teaching scientists in teaching undergraduate agricultural students. Ex-post-facto research design was employed to document and diagnose the constraints faced by them. The scientists working in the main campus of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India were considered as the sample for the study and the study was conducted during September 2017 to January 2018. A semi-structured questionnaire was prepared to document the constraints faced by the respondents. The study included 52 university teachers of age range from 34 to 59 comprising of 52 percent of male and 48 percent of the female. The constraints were documented through an open-ended questionnaire to state their difficulty with undergraduate teaching. Wider student-teacher ratio, poor classroom infrastructure, poor maintenance of Audio-Visual aids, immoral activities of the students, the distracted mind of the students, external intrusion with guest lectures and heterogeneity of the students were identified to be the significant constraints faced by the UG teaching staff. This paper attempts to suggest remedies for the documented constraints.