Chandigarh, Sept. 28 -- Even as demand for foreign language courses continues to grow at Panjab University (PU), a severe shortage of teachers has pushed several departments into crisis. The Chinese department has virtually shut down after its lone faculty member retired, while the German department is running with just one permanent teacher for over 100 students. Similar shortages persist in French, Russian and Persian, affecting admissions, classes and plans to expand academic programmes.

The crisis is most visible in the Chinese department, where admissions to the certificate, diploma and advanced diploma courses have been kept in abeyance for the 2026-27 academic session after the retirement of Prof Damodar Panda, the department's on...