Non-teaching staff appointment in Bihar varsities through commission: Minister

All universities in Bihar have huge vacancies for teaching and non-teaching staff. Even Patna University is working at less than 50% of the sanctioned strength due to delayed appointment processes, which run for years

Bihar education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary on Tuesday said that recruitment of non-teaching staff in state universities will be done through staff selection commission or a separate commission.

Since 2005, appointment of teachers in universities in Bihar has been done only once by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC). (HT Photo)

“There are vacancies in universities both in teaching and non-teaching positions. While the Bihar state university service commission will carry out appointments of assistant professors, the recruitment of non-teaching staff will be done through another commission. Now, there is a separate portal for non-teaching employees, providing a clear picture of vacancies and the number of sanctioned posts,” Choudhary said.

The minister was speaking at the launch of portals for aided-affiliated colleges and also non-teaching staff in the state universities. Later, a training session was also organised for the university officials to smoothly run the portal.

All universities in Bihar have huge vacancies for teaching and non-teaching staff. Even Patna University is working at less than 50% of the sanctioned strength due to delayed appointment processes, which run for years. Since 2005, the appointment of teachers in the universities has been done only once by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC), and the process took nearly four years, while the second round of appointments is presently being done by the Bihar state university service commission.

“By the time one round of appointment is completed and fresh inductions are made, even more teachers retire, making the universities perennially short of teaching staff. There is no mechanism to fill the vacancies as and when they occur. For the non-teaching employees and lab technicians, mostly the appointments have not been carried out, leaving it to the universities to manage things on an ad hoc basis. In many universities huge sums are spent on outsourcing of staff and private security guards every month,” said an official, who didn’t wish to be named.