4K assistant professors yet to be appointed in TN govt colleges
Officials attribute over a year of delay to the pending case in the court
College Students
CHENNAI: With the new academic year starting, more than 4,000 assistant professor vacant posts in Arts and Science colleges across Tamil Nadu are yet to be filled even over a year after recruitment notification was issued.
Despite a case in connection to the appointment of teachers is ongoing, the Higher Education officials had hoped that the appointment would be completed at the earliest.
The vacancies exist for a total of 65 subjects, with Tamil and English topping the list with over 1,200 professors to be appointed in various colleges.
A senior official from the Directorate of Collegiate Education (DCE), seeking anonymity, said that all the formalities including conducting the State Eligibility Test (SET), which is mandatory for applying for assistant professor posts, were completed.
“However, the results could not be published because the matter was with the court,” he said, adding that all the issues will be resolved soon and appointments will be made at the earliest after the court orders.
The official pointed out that as the new academic year has begun, the recruitment of the proposed assistant professors will be a major step in filling the long-time existing vacancies in the colleges, which would benefit students of the 2025 batch. He also claimed that the classes will not be disturbed as guest lecturers will take care of the syllabus completion till the issues are solved.
According to the Tamil Nadu Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) notification on March 14, 2024, the online enrolment began on March 28 for the direct recruitment of assistant professors in government Arts and Science colleges and government colleges of education and ended on April 29.
P Thirunavukkarasu, the vice chairman of the Association of University Teachers (AUT), also pointed out that due to the case, which was pending in the court, the recruitment process of assistant processors was delayed.
“The appointment was also due to the demand by guest lecturers who want the government to make them permanent employees. The concerned authorities should take steps to resolve this issue permanently and fill vacancies soon for the benefit of the students,” he said.
