Ph.D. necessary for university-level recruitment from 2021: Javadekar
New Delhi, June 13: From 2021 onwards, only those with a Ph.D degree will be eligible to be recruited as teachers in central universities, Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar announced on Wednesday.
The step was one of the many announced during a press meet.
As of now, those who have a Master’s degree and have passed the National Eligibility Test (NET) qualify to apply for the post of Assistant Professor in these universities. Those who have a Ph.D. are exempt from NET and are eligible to directly become Assistant Professor.
The decision, which will come into effect from July 2021, will however not be applicable to college teachers who will continue to become eligible for Assistant Professorship after clearing NET.
"From 2021 onwards, only Ph.Ds will be recruited in colleges," Javadekar told media here.
"There was a lacuna earlier in the recruitment rules, that Indians who have done Ph.D. from abroad were not considered eligible, but now those Indians who have done Ph.D. from top 500 institutes globally will also be eligible" he said announcing another change.
According to another decision, the ministry has done away with the Academic Point Indicator (API) system considered during the promotion of teachers at the college level. One of the requirements of the API system was that the teacher must conduct research in their field, on the basis of which their performance was rated for promotion.
"API based on PBAS (Performance Based Appraisal System) has been removed. There will not be compulsory research for the college teachers. They can do research, but they will not be forced to do it. It will not be mandatory. We want them to focus them on teaching," Javadekar said, adding that the move was taken to improve the standard of teaching at the undergraduate level.
The promotion now on will done on a different grading system which will involve components to rate teaching and student-involvement factors.
As per the new rating system, the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS) by the faculty members will now be considered for the promotion.
"MOOCs are becoming increasingly popular. There are 1032 of them now on our SWAYAM platform. ... If teachers have MOOCs lecture, they will be given weightage in promotion," Javadekar said.
The decision again is not applicable to the university teachers for whom research will remain compulsory for promotion as per the API based PBAS extant.
The minister also said that the newly-recruited faculty from now on will have to go through a one-month induction programme "to ease them into college environment and learn the art of pedagogy".
In a first ever such move, he also announced creating the post of Professor at the college level, which until now had only posts of Assistant Professor and Associate Professor.
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Ex-RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh's medical registration cancelled
Kolkata (PTI): The West Bengal Medical Council (WBMC) on Thursday cancelled the registration of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital's former principal Sandip Ghosh, an official said.
Ghosh, who is in CBI custody, has been removed from the list of registered medical practitioners maintained by the WBMC, he said.
His licence was cancelled under various provisions of the Bengal Medical Act of 1914, the official said.
He is an orthopaedic surgeon and without the licence, he cannot practice.
Ghosh was arrested by the CBI on September 2 for his alleged involvement in the financial irregularities at the hospital amid the protests over the rape and murder of the on-duty trainee doctor. He was later accused of evidence tampering in the rape-murder case.
Aniket Mahato, one of the leading faces of the junior doctors who have been agitating over the death of their colleague, described it as a "victory".
"This is a victory for our deceased sister. The cancellation of Ghosh's medical registration should have been done the very next day of his arrest. We are happy that the West Bengal Medical Council has finally taken this step," he said.
The West Bengal Doctors' Forum (WBDF), however, described the decision to cancel Ghosh's medical licence as an "eyewash" and an "attempt to save him".
"Registration of Sandip Ghosh has been cancelled as per rules 25 a (2) of the Bengal Medical Act 1914. As per these rules, two-thirds of the council members must vote in favour of the decision to cancel the registration of any medical practitioner. In the case of Ghosh, no such meeting was conducted. Also, at present, a quorum is not possible due to the resignation of a few members and the death of one member. So this order is legally not tenable and just an eye wash," Dr Rajiv Pandey of the WBDF told PTI.
Claiming that the registrar of the council cancelled the licence on verbal communication of WBMC president Sudipta Roy, Pandey said it "was not acceptable".
Ghosh was appointed the principal of the RG Kar Medical College in February 2021. Amid the protests, he resigned from the post.
The notice regarding the cancellation of Ghosh's registration was sent to his Beliaghata and New Town residences.
