Nearly 2,000 assistant professors are to be recruited to state-aided colleges by the end of this year to fill vacancies created by retirement or creation of new teaching posts since the last round of hiring in 2016-17.
The West Bengal College Service Commission will publish an advertisement within the next 10 days, inviting applications from eligible candidates to fill the vacancies, a senior official said.
The commission had issued a circular at the beginning of this year, asking principals of all state-aided colleges to submit their requirement of teachers within April 30. The last date for staff requisitioning was subsequently extended to May 31.
“After examining the requisitions from heads of colleges, we have drawn up a list of around 2,000 vacancies in the rank of assistant professor. The process of interviewing candidates will start soon,” the official said.
Interviews are likely to be conducted over three to four months. According to the official, the commission will be in a position to issue appointment letters by December-end. “All new teachers will hopefully be joining their colleges by January,” the official said.
Bengal has around 540 colleges that need teachers for as many as 50 subjects. These colleges together have around 14,000 sanctioned teaching posts, five to 10 per cent of which fall vacant each year because of retirement.
Given the number of vacancies and subjects for which teachers are currently required, it is estimated that the commission will take about six months from the date of the advertisement being published to complete the recruitment process.
The commission had been aiming to complete the hiring by Durga Puja, but the process got delayed because of colleges being given more time to send requisitions.
This is the third time since the Trinamul Congress came to power in 2011 that teachers will be recruited to state-aided colleges. In 2013, the commission had appointed around 2,020 assistant professors. Another 3,200 teachers were hired in 2016-17.
Before 2013, the commission had appointed lecturers in 2008, when the Left Front was in government. Entry-level college teachers used to be called lecturers then.
Vacancies in the rank of assistant professor are generally created by a combination of retirement, resignations and creation of new posts.
At last count, the number of colleges set up by the Trinamul government was 47. All these institutes have the mandate to start new courses.
Many of the teachers recruited in this round will be deployed in the new colleges, a source in the commission said.
According to him, the underlying objective is to showcase this as the government’s success in creating new jobs ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Source: The Telegraph
