Eight courses in five departments at Allahabad University (AU) got a new lease of life with the executive council (EC) giving approval to the appointment of 48 new teachers, on Friday.
The approval for the appointment of these teaching faculty members at AU was given in an emergency meeting of the EC during which the sealed envelopes containing the names of the selected teachers and recommendations of the selection committees that interviewed them were opened. The approval was given to the names of candidates selected in interviews for 69 vacant teaching positions held between December 2021 and April 2022 for eight subjects in five different departments.
The department-wise names of the candidates, who would soon be joining AU as teachers, include five associate and assistant professors in psychology department, two assistant and one associate professor in the centre of behavioural and cognitive sciences (CBCS), four assistant and one associate professor in department of statistics, three assistant professors in the centre for centre for experimental mineralogy and petrology, two professors along with seven associate and 15 assistant professors in English besides one assistant professor each of French, Russian and German language for English and modern European languages department.
The selection of new teachers at AU bears significance as almost all the departments are reeling under an acute shortage of educators. In the department of English, against 45 sanctioned posts in English, only 10 teachers were teaching till these new appointments. Apart from this, of the three European languages being taught in the department, classes of only French were being conducted and that too with the help of a guest faculty.
{{/usCountry}}The selection of new teachers at AU bears significance as almost all the departments are reeling under an acute shortage of educators. In the department of English, against 45 sanctioned posts in English, only 10 teachers were teaching till these new appointments. Apart from this, of the three European languages being taught in the department, classes of only French were being conducted and that too with the help of a guest faculty.
{{/usCountry}}Similarly, out of the 20 positions in the department of psychology, only four teachers were teaching, and the situation was very critical because psychology is a practical subject. A similar crisis also existed in the department of statistics wherein against eight sanctioned posts, there was just one teacher. In CBCS, against 11 sanctioned posts, there were just three teachers. In centre for experimental mineralogy and petrology, there was no teacher and all the teaching positions were vacant.
AU officials said that the envelope of the selected names for the unreserved posts of assistant professors in the English department will be opened only after the order of the Allahabad high court.