Few thoughts on recruitment of Asst Profs
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Khelsoril Wanbe
The notification for recruitment of 419 Assistant Professors of Government colleges in Manipur comes after a long gap of about eight years since the last Court case-disrupted recruitment process that spanned roughly between 2014 and 2017.
Many of the candidates had already crossed the upper age limit set by the Directorate of the Higher Education, Government of Manipur, although the University Grants Commission does not fix any such Upper Age Limit for college/university teaching jobs. With the complete lifting of the Upper Age Limit by the Directorate following a memorandum submitted by representatives of the candidates for relaxation of the upper age limit, the senior candidates, who have long crossed the upper age bar, heaved a great sigh of relief and they have now submitted their application forms starting from December 22, 2025 and went on till January 29, 2026.
It needs to be noted that the college teaching recruitments happen after long intervals. There was a long gap between the last two recruitments—one took place in 2006 and the process was completed in 2008, and the next happened only in 2014—each of the two recruitment processes took several years.
The advertisement for the former was out in 2006, but the final interviews were conducted only in 2008 and the later recruitment was advertised in 2014, but as the recruitment process was hampered by a Court case, it was completed only in 2017. Therefore, in other words, such recruitments are rarer phenomena than the likes of solar or lunar eclipses, and whenever it comes, everybody is excited and wants to join the competition.
Sometime in 2022, there was a special contractual Assistant Professor recruitment drive and I too went to submit the application form, but unluckily, I had crossed the upper age limit by some months, so I came back home without being able to submit my application form. Ever since then, I had resigned to the fact that I am already too old for this stuff—Government college teaching job in my home State of Manipur. Earlier in 2011, I had a big chance to work in New Delhi. I worked as an Ad-hoc Assistant Professor, and chances were high for it to be regularised in a few years time, but because of my desire to work in my home State, I left my job there and came out. Well, all my colleagues who were working as Ad-hocs are today all regularised through proper recruitment processes and promoted to higher level positions, as it has already been more than 15 years.
The path from Assistant Professor to Professor is only 10 years long if one remains academically dynamic by publishing papers and books and by being actively involved in other academic activities. So I waited for the MPSC recruitment of college Assistant Professors, but unfortunately, notification for recruitment came out only in 2014, and eventually I was not in the final list although I managed to secure a good ranking of 19th position in the written test out of the total of over a hundred candidates and even my interview performance too was very satisfactory as I could answer all the questions quite well; so I had to resign to what unfolded at the end.
This time, after several years, I started hearing the news of recruitment for regular college faculty posts. But, initially, when friends informed me, I didn’t take it seriously as I knew I wouldn’t be eligible for it anymore because of the age factor.
Still that was not the end of the story as, again, I started hearing that some candidates would be submitting a memorandum to the Governor to request for further age relaxation for the already overaged candidates. Then, after few days, came the notification: “There will be no upper age limit.” The temptation to apply for the job grew stronger again with the news of the complete relaxation despite having grown very old and having gone through a very bad experience in the previous recruitment.
There, definitely, is the need to give a thoughtful consideration to the fate of senior candidates who have always wanted to work at Government colleges in their home State but have not been successful in securing the position in their past attempts due to one or the other reason. It may not be because they lack experience or are less qualified. Their problem could also have been because they don’t know how to dance to the tune of the music.
The road to becoming qualified for teaching position in college or university level has not been very easy. Once upon a time before 2012, there was a general belief and a condition that UGC NET certificate was more important than even PhD, and that discouraged many from directly pursuing PhD after completing masters. That was the case with me too. I appeared for NET exam several times, and I cleared it in 2007.
My previous attempts were not successful because of one or the other reason. I also lacked awareness of the exam tactics. Those days there were three papers: two were MCQ type and Paper-III consisted of essay type questions; one of which carried 40 marks and that must have been the primary question which needed to be given special focus. But, as I wasn’t well aware of that importance, I used to attempt all the questions and the biggest question would always run short of time. That, I think, as I look back, was the main reason why I couldn’t crack NET in my previous attempts.
In 2007, I unexpectedly, cleared the exam, and I had become finally eligible. I say unexpectedly because I felt I did better in my previous attempts yet couldn’t clear. As I look back, I remember in my last appearance, I paid better attention and gave more time while attempting the 40 mark question. Well, those days cracking NET was quite a challenge.
Since 2012, all NET exam papers have become objective type or consists of Multiple Choice Questions only. Undoubtedly, still tough, but the pattern has changed considerably as there is no more paper with essay type questions. Another big change has been that now PhD has been given much bigger weightage and is considered an essential qualification for teaching at universities and colleges.
The notification for recruitment of 419 Assistant Professors of Government colleges in Manipur comes after a long gap of about eight years since the last Court case-disrupted recruitment process that spanned roughly between 2014 and 2017.
Many of the candidates had already crossed the upper age limit set by the Directorate of the Higher Education, Government of Manipur, although the University Grants Commission does not fix any such Upper Age Limit for college/university teaching jobs. With the complete lifting of the Upper Age Limit by the Directorate following a memorandum submitted by representatives of the candidates for relaxation of the upper age limit, the senior candidates, who have long crossed the upper age bar, heaved a great sigh of relief and they have now submitted their application forms starting from December 22, 2025 and went on till January 29, 2026.
It needs to be noted that the college teaching recruitments happen after long intervals. There was a long gap between the last two recruitments—one took place in 2006 and the process was completed in 2008, and the next happened only in 2014—each of the two recruitment processes took several years.
The advertisement for the former was out in 2006, but the final interviews were conducted only in 2008 and the later recruitment was advertised in 2014, but as the recruitment process was hampered by a Court case, it was completed only in 2017. Therefore, in other words, such recruitments are rarer phenomena than the likes of solar or lunar eclipses, and whenever it comes, everybody is excited and wants to join the competition.
Sometime in 2022, there was a special contractual Assistant Professor recruitment drive and I too went to submit the application form, but unluckily, I had crossed the upper age limit by some months, so I came back home without being able to submit my application form. Ever since then, I had resigned to the fact that I am already too old for this stuff—Government college teaching job in my home State of Manipur. Earlier in 2011, I had a big chance to work in New Delhi. I worked as an Ad-hoc Assistant Professor, and chances were high for it to be regularised in a few years time, but because of my desire to work in my home State, I left my job there and came out. Well, all my colleagues who were working as Ad-hocs are today all regularised through proper recruitment processes and promoted to higher level positions, as it has already been more than 15 years.
The path from Assistant Professor to Professor is only 10 years long if one remains academically dynamic by publishing papers and books and by being actively involved in other academic activities. So I waited for the MPSC recruitment of college Assistant Professors, but unfortunately, notification for recruitment came out only in 2014, and eventually I was not in the final list although I managed to secure a good ranking of 19th position in the written test out of the total of over a hundred candidates and even my interview performance too was very satisfactory as I could answer all the questions quite well; so I had to resign to what unfolded at the end.
This time, after several years, I started hearing the news of recruitment for regular college faculty posts. But, initially, when friends informed me, I didn’t take it seriously as I knew I wouldn’t be eligible for it anymore because of the age factor.
Still that was not the end of the story as, again, I started hearing that some candidates would be submitting a memorandum to the Governor to request for further age relaxation for the already overaged candidates. Then, after few days, came the notification: “There will be no upper age limit.” The temptation to apply for the job grew stronger again with the news of the complete relaxation despite having grown very old and having gone through a very bad experience in the previous recruitment.
There, definitely, is the need to give a thoughtful consideration to the fate of senior candidates who have always wanted to work at Government colleges in their home State but have not been successful in securing the position in their past attempts due to one or the other reason. It may not be because they lack experience or are less qualified. Their problem could also have been because they don’t know how to dance to the tune of the music.
The road to becoming qualified for teaching position in college or university level has not been very easy. Once upon a time before 2012, there was a general belief and a condition that UGC NET certificate was more important than even PhD, and that discouraged many from directly pursuing PhD after completing masters. That was the case with me too. I appeared for NET exam several times, and I cleared it in 2007.
My previous attempts were not successful because of one or the other reason. I also lacked awareness of the exam tactics. Those days there were three papers: two were MCQ type and Paper-III consisted of essay type questions; one of which carried 40 marks and that must have been the primary question which needed to be given special focus. But, as I wasn’t well aware of that importance, I used to attempt all the questions and the biggest question would always run short of time. That, I think, as I look back, was the main reason why I couldn’t crack NET in my previous attempts.
In 2007, I unexpectedly, cleared the exam, and I had become finally eligible. I say unexpectedly because I felt I did better in my previous attempts yet couldn’t clear. As I look back, I remember in my last appearance, I paid better attention and gave more time while attempting the 40 mark question. Well, those days cracking NET was quite a challenge.
Since 2012, all NET exam papers have become objective type or consists of Multiple Choice Questions only. Undoubtedly, still tough, but the pattern has changed considerably as there is no more paper with essay type questions. Another big change has been that now PhD has been given much bigger weightage and is considered an essential qualification for teaching at universities and colleges.