The staff crunched Government colleges of State are expected to get some reprieve with the selection process for 681 posts of guest lecturers expected to complete soon. The department of higher education is conducting the interviews of guest faculty in three phases. The interview process for first two phases is complete and it is learnt that the department is in process of appointing the selected candidates in next two to three days.
The State Higher education Director B C Malkani said that the interviews for third and final phase would be held from December 07 to December 09. The Vice Chancellors (VCs) of Kumaon and Sri Dev Suman Uttarakhand University, a joint secretary level officer, SC and ST nominees and higher education Director are part of the interview panel for guest lecturers. He informed that the interviews of geography, Sanskrit and Economics would be organized in third pahse. Malkani said that the department would soon appoint guest lecturers in the vacant posts of college teachers.
There are more than 1500 sanctioned posts of teachers in 93 Government colleges out of which 681 posts are lying vacant.
The situation is worse in the colleges located in mountainous areas of the State with majority of posts lying vacant.
The higher education department is going ahead with the process of recruitment of guest lecturers despite a strong opposition from the pre 2009 qualified candidates. The association of Ph.D qualified candidates organised a protest meeting outside the venue of interviews at Haldwani on the first day but they were dispersed by the local police. These candidates demand that their candidature for these posts should also be considered. The University Grant Commission (UGC) has categorically told that only National Eligibility Test (NET) and State Eligibility Test (SET) qualified candidates are eligible to teach in the colleges.
However on the demand of pre 2009 Ph.D. candidates the UGC has formed a high level committee to discuss the issue.
The association of Pre 2009 Ph.D. candidates is of the view that department should withhold the final list of the candidates selected till a final decision on the matter is taken by the UGC.