Tamil Nadu Self Financing Colleges Teachers Association (TANSFACTA) has opposed the methodology adopted by the Teachers’ Recruitment Board (TRB) for the ongoing selection of candidates to fill 1,093 Assistant Professor vacancies in government arts and science colleges.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, TANSFACTA coordinator A. Kathali Narasinga Perumal said that over 17,000 candidates had applied for the post across the State and TRB had decided to award a maximum of nine marks for the qualifications possessed by the candidate.
While those who had cleared National Eligibility Test or State Level Eligibility Test were awarded five marks, candidates possessing M.Phil degree in addition to clearing NET/SLET were being awarded six marks. Full marks were awarded only to those possessing Ph.D. degrees with or without NET/SLET.
“As per UGC norms, clearing NET/SLET is enough to become an Assistant Professor. We don’t know why TRB was giving weightage to additional qualifications,” Mr. Perumal said.
He also expressed displeasure over not awarding marks for work experience gained prior to clearance of NET/SLET.
TRB had fixed a maximum of 15 marks for professional experience. Two marks are awarded for every year of experience gained pursuant to clearance of NET/SLET or Ph.D.
“It means that those who had worked as college teachers for seven and a half years can secure full marks. But teachers with much higher experience could not gain full marks because they had cleared NET/SLET only recently. Around 80 per cent of candidates are affected because of this,” he said.
He also objected to TRB’s decision that M.Phil degrees obtained through correspondence would not be considered for appointment. “This decision is against UGC regulations as well as the State Government’s orders passed in the previous years,” he added.
