Thiruvananthapuram: Even as thousands of eligible candidates have been waiting for a job in government colleges as teachers after being included in the PSC rank lists for 26 subjects, the government remains indifferent to making appointments. It is alleged that, for the last five years, many posts have been left unfilled due to this lackadaisical approach.

In the last three years, only 128 teachers have been appointed across 16 subjects. Despite implementing a four-year undergraduate programme last academic year, vacancies for teachers have not been filled.

As the appointment issue has become more acute, the government has now started collecting data on vacant posts in colleges.

Government to take stock of things

In 2020, a government order made it mandatory for college teachers to have a 16-hour workload per week to determine the number of posts. The one-and-a-half-hour PG weightage that was earlier considered for determining posts was also removed. Based on this new criterion, the government assessed that there are 2,000 excess teachers in colleges. This led to a slowdown in teacher appointments.

Although many new-generation courses were approved in colleges during the 2020–21 academic year, no new teaching posts were sanctioned to suit the situation. Moreover, an instruction was issued not to appoint any new teachers for five years. As a result, most colleges have had to rely on guest lecturers for teaching.

Even first-rank holders have not been appointed

The tenure of a PSC rank list is three years. Even after two and a half years, some first-rank holders have not been appointed. The highest number of appointments—23—were from the Mathematics rank list published on 8 January 2023. In the Business Administration subject, 18 people were appointed from the list published in June 2023.

From the 2022 Statistics rank list, 16 people were appointed, and from the 2023 Economics list, 14. In subjects such as Hindi, Sociology, Politics, Physics, Commerce, Philosophy, English, Chemistry, History, Geography, Psychology and Biotechnology, appointments were minimal. With the validity of some rank lists expiring this year, candidates are deeply concerned.