Editor,
I would like to raise concern regarding why the governor, the Education Department, student unions, CBOs and intellectual denizens of the state are mute spectators to the recently conducted APU teaching position recruitment process despite repeatedly complaints raised by numerous aggrieved candidates.
Various anomalies were found in the recruitment for teaching positions in the APU. It is very disheartening to see that the stakeholders were silent during APPSC and APSSB job scams, and now the APU case, while actively participating in religious movements and gatherings. Why do our people remain mute on such a pertinent issue? Perhaps they have failed to realise that even a single assistant, associate, or professor recruited unfairly will destroy our youths’ future for the next 30-40 generations or as long as they serve in the chair. In simple terms, corruption will do more societal harm than religious consequences if we logically or rationally conduct scientific or comparative analysis of its impact. In this regard, I would like to highlight the following issues:
Firstly, the APU authorities have clearly violated their own laid down advertisement rule, where they themselves cited in the advertisement that the UGC guidelines shall be implemented for a fair selection process. When UGC guidelines are adopted, the institution must strictly adhere to the API ranking (where marks of the candidates are added based on their PhD, MPhil, teaching experiences, seminar paper presentation, books and research publication, etc). Thus, the APU authorities clearly violated their own laid-down rules, and no API guidelines were implemented in shortlisting and selecting candidates for the final list. A total of six candidates without having a PhD and teaching experience were selected. No ratio was maintained in shortlisting the candidates. They simply called everyone who applied for the post for reasons only they know.
Secondly, it is very surprising to know that the APU authority invited the same PhD guide as subject expert board member to conduct an interview of their PhD scholar, which clearly violated the UGC’s conflict of interest rules.
Thirdly, the APU authorities constituted non-subject experts as interview board members in conducting interviews. For example, in the tribal studies department, they called a non-subject expert to conduct an interview, whereas we have such subject expert professors in our own state’s central university (RGU-AITS department).
Fourthly, say for example, at first the APU invited more than 50 candidates for one post and conducted interviews from 9:30 am to 9 pm. Ironically, they conducted the interviews in a very gradual manner in the morning/first session, but post lunch, they finished the interview with an average time of 8-12 minutes. It was like they were in a hurry to finish the interview formalities.
Fifthly, it is also heard that some of the existing guest faculties of the APU were selected for permanent teaching position at the APU in the recently conducted interview at the APU, which is again a matter of great concern. If they have been selected based on their previous job experience (guest faculty), then again there arises the question of whether those existing guest faculty members were earlier recruited or interviewed by another assistant professor. This means one assistant professor recruited another assistant professor, which reflects gross violation of the RR of the UGC and the Education Department’s guidelines, where an assistant professor cannot recruit another assistant professor as both have the same rank. Hence, their teaching experience certificate/marks should be considered null and void, and they should be immediately rejected.
Lastly, the VC and the registrar of the APU belong to two particular tribes, which to a certain extent was not a matter of concern. However, we were surprised to see that the observer sent by the chancellor of the institution (the governor) was also from one of the two tribes, which raised the question of why the observer was not from another tribe.
Hence, authorities concerned in general and the student unions in particular must intervene in the matter before it’s too late. Our sincere appeal to student unions: please take up student-related issues like unemployment and corruption related to new job advertisements, which directly affect students’ careers and the state’s future. Please do not unnecessarily get involved in religious and Chakma-Hajong issues. Nobody is requesting the student unions to get involved in religious and other such petty matters, but here we, as unemployed youths/students, invite you to actively intervene in the said matter and urge the APU authorities to reconduct the interview by strictly adhering to UGC guidelines. Hope the readers of this letter do not assume that those who could not make it are complaining, as it is because of such thoughts that issues like the APPSC and APSSB scams arise.
An aggrieved candidate