English assistant professor recruitment in Haryana: Aspirants protest in Haryana’s Rohtak, allege unfairness in evaluation
Only 151 aspirants, out of nearly 2,400 (who cleared the prelims), were able to clear the mains exam held for the post of assistant professor in English
Raising questions over transparency and fairness of the selection criteria adopted by the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) in assistant professor (college cadre) exam, the aspirants (English subject) on Tuesday, alleging unfairness in evaluation by the recruitment board, held protest in Rohtak.
Only 151 aspirants, out of nearly 2,400 (who cleared the prelims), were able to clear the mains exam held for the post of assistant professor in English.
Jyoti Bamneya, a PhD scholar at Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU), Rohtak, who passed the University Grant Commission’s National Eligibility Test (UGC- NET) along with junior research fellowship (JRF), and now a UGC Senior Research Fellowship (SRF), said that nearly 2,400 aspirants, who cleared the preliminary test (basic knowledge) in June, had appeared for mains (subjective exam) round on August 17. “We had to answer 15 questions, each carrying 10 marks, in three hours. A minimum of 35% (52.5 marks) are required to qualify the mains exams but the majority of students failed to achieve the benchmark. The selection criteria raises serious questions as the UGC-NET exam toppers, who are getting a fellowship from the UGC and pursuing PhD from prestigious universities were declared failed. Our answer sheets should be shown and serious questions are raised over the authenticity of the recruiting board,” she said.
Another candidate, Monika Lakhlan, from Bhiwani said that 136 successful candidates are from the general category. “In the reserved category, one aspirant from DSC category, two from the OSC category, six from economically weaker section (EWS), five from BC A, three from BC B, are now eligible for the final round.
“Most of the candidates who made the cut are from other states. In the name of not securing 35% marks, many of us were shown the door. We will move the Punjab and Haryana high court seeking intervention into the matter. In other exam results too, HPSC had not filled posts by declaring the majority of candidates ineligible to get 35% marks,” she added.
Students activist Honey Gulia said that the candidates who had scored over 85% marks in the pre (objective) type exam failed in the mains exam and questions are being raised over the evaluation system.
The protesters have announced to sit-in a protest outside the HPSC office in Panchkula on December 11.
Former Hisar Member of Parliament and Congress leader Brijendra Singh said, “In 2024, HPSC had opened a recruitment process to fill 3,069 posts for post-graduate teachers but they were able to fill only 1,739 posts and the rest were declared ineligible saying they did not get 35% marks in the mains exam. HPSC has been deliberately working to weaken the education system in Haryana and maliciously working to defame intelligent aspirants,” he added.
Three days ago, HPSC chairman Alok Verma denied rigging in the recruitment process and stated that those who scored 35% are eligible to appear in the interview.
There are a total of 612 vacancies, out of which 312 were for general category, 120 for the Scheduled Castes, and 85 and 36 for the Backwards Classes A and B, respectively.
