It is nearly two years since the Teachers’ Recruitment Board announced direct recruitment of Assistant Professors in Tamil Nadu Collegiate Educational Service for Government Arts and Science Colleges, and there is no sign as yet of the selected teachers receiving the appointment orders.
According to selected candidates, a good number of the teachers chosen for the post had crossed 50 years, and, more importantly, the functioning of the government colleges has been paralysed due to acute shortage of teachers. As per the notification, candidates should not have completed 57 years as on July 1 2013, since the age of superannuation is 58. Hence, teachers who were over 56 years of age at the time of applying are now clueless about their entry into government service at all.
According to a selected candidate in early fifties, the Government could have at least thought of posting the candidates in batches subject-wise, upon completion of interview for which the process commenced last July. Most of the teachers had resigned their jobs in private institutions after the interview in anticipation of posting.
A maximum of 15 marks was given for teaching experience. Ten marks was for interview, out of the total of 34. Nine marks was given for Ph.D, eight marks for M.Phil with pass in SLET/NET, and five marks for PG with pass in SLET/ NET.
Ultimately, the sufferers are the students. Several colleges are reportedly functioning without any teacher in English Department.
Out of the total 1,093 vacancies, most number of vacancies are in English (150) followed by mathematics (140), physics (110), chemistry and computer science (100 each). Other subjects with high number of vacancies constitute commerce (80), botany (65) and economics (60).
According to the candidates, the impasse was confounding. There should not be any further delay, since the chosen teachers have to undergo a lengthy duration of orientation before taking up the teaching task. The Government has to act fast to ensure that the orientation is conducted during the summer vacation, so that next year’s academic schedule is not affected, they said.
