Biju Dharmapalan
Getting a good job has become a matter of chance for thousands of educated youth in the country. It’s not that jobs are not available or vacancies have been reduced, but the number of qualified manpower has increased tremendously by the Government’s various initiatives. But finding the right job for suitable candidates is often difficult for the youth. One major source of employment notifications is the Employment News published by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, but it primarily covers jobs in institutions under the Government of India. But this doesn’t carry vacancies notified by various autonomous institutions and state Government organisations. These are announced either on their websites or in local newspapers. There is no single window for job aspirants to check the availability of vacancies in various organisations in the country. Few online job portals collect and collate information from different sources, but they are still incomplete.
With this background, the recent announcement by UGC to create a common website for recruitment in 45 central universities will be a huge relief for the aspirants. At present, each university notifies their positions separately, and aspirants must go through the individual notifications and apply separately. In many cases, the aspirants miss out on a few notifications. As per the latest announcement by UGC, the new website that will be launched soon will act as an announcement board for various vacancies in these universities. The candidates can apply to various universities directly from the website. This is the first step in making the academic recruitment process more transparent. According to UGC, this process will be extended to other national educational institutions like IITs, IIMs, state universities and private universities.
Even though this new announcement by UGC is highly appreciable, the agency has to take urgent steps to streamline the eligibility criteria for assistant professors in various affiliated colleges in the country. Our universities still follow an age-old compartmentalised approach in education, contrary to the trans disciplinary approach we emphasise in our new education policy. During the recruitment process, students pursuing new-generation courses miss out on opportunities in college. A person who has qualified CSIR-UGC examination in Life sciences, in principle, has the competency to master any branch related to biology. But in reality, people who have studied courses like biotechnology, biochemistry or microbiology are debarred from applying for positions in Botany or Zoology. This is an injustice to the candidates. The course content of most of the courses related to Life sciences is almost similar. Similarly, many related new-generation physical, chemical, and mathematical science courses exist. The course content in higher education should be attuned to the needs of the age in which we live. Accordingly, many new-generation courses are being evolved that are approved by the universities. It would be an injustice on the part of the university and Government to deny job opportunities to students who pursue such new-generation courses.
Similarly, UGC has to stop corruption in recruitment followed by the aided colleges, especially in states like Kerala. Many colleges in the state accept donations to the tune of lakhs from job aspirants. Aided college managements take 15 to 50 lakh on average for the post of assistant professor, and usually, they take advance money from 3 or 4 people promising a permanent position. Usually, it takes 3 to 5 years to get a post approved by the Government. So till then, these teachers work in the college without any salary. It depends on their luck whether they get the promised vacancy; in case they are not selected, the managements return the money without any interest. This practice has been going on since the late 90’s and has badly affected the higher education sector in Kerala. The managements have no hesitation in asking the donation directly from candidates. In most cases, the interviews are just a formality to recruit their desired candidates. They need other candidates to make up the desired quorum to show the Government authorities. The Government nominee or university representative act as the mouthpiece of management after taking the hefty honorarium the management provides them. Till now, no Government has taken serious steps to end this age-old heinous practice followed by the affiliated colleges. Many candidates with quality but no money fail to get a job in the state. A similar trend is even noticed in other states also.
For young job seekers, another area of concern is the interview for temporary project positions and guest faculty positions conducted by various institutions. Hundredths of the candidates appear for walk-in interviews from various corners of the country. In many cases, these positions are fixed for internal candidates and persons with influence. The Government should stop this culture of walk-in interviews. Even for temporary positions, there should be a single national online portal where eligible candidates can apply and see their marks based on the submitted documents. The portal may contain questions that can assess the quality of the candidate. Those securing a minimum cut-off mark alone should be called for the final interview. The final interview should be only for a weightage of 30 marks. The marks obtained by all candidates during the screening stage should be displayed in the portal. This will make the selection process more transparent and avoid unnecessary difficulties candidates face in travelling long distances to get a job. Such transparency in recruitment will also help regain confidence in nation-building among our youngsters.
(The author is an academic and Columnist)
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