Editor,
Recently an alumna from my department had an untimely demise. She was a PhD holder and had been serving as a guest faculty at a government college for a long time. I was not personally acquainted with the deceased but I had gone through her thesis in our department’s library, had read a notice on the university website declaring her a PhD holder, and had also heard about her PhD journey from those close to her.
But the fact, however, is that the loss feels quite personal. Personal because I remember waiting outside the principal’s office at DNGC together for an interview for guest faculty in our subject. Although we did not share any kind of conversation that day, what I vividly recall, and what I make of it in hindsight, is that no person deserves to leave so early, at such a young age, at an age where everything was coming together. At least professionally – it seemed that way.
And I know this is a conversation for another time, but I cannot help feeling helplessly angry at the system we are currently operating in – a system where an individual completes her PhD and still has to move from one contractual position to another with little security, little stability, and even lesser dignity. A system that deliberately ignores the aspirations of hundreds of deserving candidates waiting for a fair opportunity to stand before an interview board, not for temporary or guest positions, but for permanent appointments, by either endlessly delaying recruitment processes or diluting them with questionable practices and shady elements.
What is even more discouraging is that years of research, fieldwork, writing, revisions and academic labour are reduced to never-ending uncertainty. Scholars spend the prime of their youth preparing themselves for a job that rarely seem to yield in return. Many continue teaching, in god knows whatever condition, without assurance, without timely salaries or even salaries proportional to labour delivered and often without the recognition they deserve. The exploitation has reached a point where merit is no longer enough and sincerity/diligence begins to feel like a disadvantage leading to existential crisis at best.
Her passing is a personal tragedy for her loved ones but it also leaves behind an uncomfortable reminder of how casually this system is exhausting people who give years of their lives to academia with hope, patience and commitment.
Byabang Agnes,
PhD Scholar,
Political science
department, RGU