– Mita Mukherjee

The West Bengal government has made it compulsory for college teachers to have minimum 10 research publications in journals approved by University Grants Commission (UGC) in order to be eligible to apply for the post of college principals. They  must also be above 40 years in order to apply for the post of college heads.

The amended rules will be applied to recruit principals of nearly 90 state-aided colleges in Bengal the process of which began on Wednesday, said Dipak Kar, chairman of West Bengal College Service Commission, the agency under the state government that recruits teachers and principals of government-aided colleges in the state.      

Under the previous system, the commission would select aspiring principals on the basis of their academic performance and administrative skills. In the amended system, the research output of college teachers will also be taken into account for seeking job in principal’s posts, Kar said.

“The aspiring candidates must have a 110 research score to be eligible for appointment as principal and minimum 10 research publications in UGC listed journals as recommended by the UGC. The candidates must not be below 40 years and above 55 ,” Kar said. In the earlier system, there was no mention of minimum age in the eligibility criteria for applying for post of college principals.

“Earlier, we would focus on the teaching and administrative skills of teachers before selecting them as principals. Now, in keeping with the UGC guidelines, we are giving more emphasis on research outputs. This decision has been taken to ensure that the aspiring principals have shown excellence in their fields and they are able to keep themselves connected with the recent research in their respective areas and teaching, “ Kar told EducationWorld.

The commission had recruited principals for state-aided colleges in 2019 for the last time. The Mamata Banerjee government had introduced the system of recruiting principals of state-aided colleges after every two years in 2013. But the appointment process got delayed for more than a year after 2019 because of Covid-19, Kar said.

There are around 450-state-aided colleges in the state. The posts fell vacant in the 90 odd colleges mainly because of the retirement of teachers. Some posts fell vacant as the principals had quit their job.

According to the rule book, when a principal’s chair falls vacant, a teacher-in-charge should be appointed. It is mandatory for the college to select the senior-most teachers of the institution as the teacher-in-charge till such time a full-time principal is appointed.  The commission today published an advertisement seeking applications from suitable candidates for filling the vacancies.

Interviewing of applicants is likely to start next month and the appointment process will be complete by December end, Kar said.

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