Assam government to form centralised recruitment board to appoint teachers in colleges

The Assam government on March 30 informed the Assembly that a centralised recruitment board will be formed to appoint teachers in colleges, which has been asked not to conduct any new hiring process on its own. 

Replying to a query by AIUDF MLA Ashraful Hussain, Education Minister Ranoj Pegu said his department is facing almost 2,500 court cases and most of them are related to recruitment in schools and colleges. 

"That is why we have not been able to make new recruitments in colleges since 2017. We have now decided not to go for any new recruitment based on academic records (by colleges). This system leads to controversies and court cases," he added. 

Also Read: Assam: No new proposals in place for non-provincialized educational institutions, says education minister Ranoj Pegu

The government has now decided to recruit teachers in colleges and universities based on a selection test, Pegu said. 

"We have decided to set up a centralised recruitment board and a college teacher will be posted in his or her choice of college after clearing the selection test," he added. 

The education minister said that at times one candidate applies to more than one college but the applicant can join only one, even after getting selected in all of them. Other colleges are then forced to restart the recruitment process from scratch. 

He said that the colleges that have already advertised seeking teachers will be allowed to complete the process this time. 

"We have asked to hold the processes to those colleges who have not advertised their posts. We will soon start the centralised system," Pegu said. 

He said a total of 640 teaching posts in colleges are lying vacant across Assam, while the figure for non-teaching posts is 834. Assam has 4,44,630 students, 8,590 teachers and 3,500 non-teaching staff in colleges and universities, Pegu said.

Assam education minister Ranoj Pegu on March 30, stated that the state has not received any new proposals for non-provincialized educational institutions.

Ranoj Pegu stated in an address to the House during the ongoing budget session of the Assam Legislative Assembly on March 30 that there were no plans to amend the laws governing the provincialization of educational institutions.

Additionally, the Assam education minister stated that the law may or may not be amended in the future.

"There has not been a new provincialization of the schools. Provincialization has only affected school staff and teacher positions. During the Assembly session, Ranoj Pegu stated, "There is no proposal regarding the amendment of the law."