Prayagraj: In a major development for teaching aspirants, UP Basic Education Council has initiated the process for recruiting 11,508 teachers in urban schools after a gap of more than three decades.Officials said the requisition for the vacancies was uploaded to the portal of UP Education Service Selection Commission (UPESSC) on Wednesday. After verifying the details, the commission is expected to issue a formal notification and invite applications.The recruitment drive assumes significance because no direct recruitment has been conducted in urban schools run by the council since 1992. Over the years, the number of vacant posts has continued to rise, affecting teaching arrangements in several institutions.According to officials, the commission has introduced a new selection procedure for teacher recruitment. Candidates will have to appear for a written examination comprising 120 questions. Each question will carry three marks, while one mark will be deducted for every incorrect answer. The detailed syllabus is expected to be released soon.The council had earlier sent the vacancy details to the commission through offline channels. However, the recruitment process requires the information to be uploaded to the online portal before further action can be taken.Officials said that at present only vacancies in urban schools have been forwarded to the commission. Work is under way to compile details of vacant positions in rural schools as well.Sources in the education department said the number of vacancies in rural schools could exceed 45,000. The process of uploading those details to the commission’s portal is currently in progress.Deputy secretary of the commission, Sanjay Kumar confirmed that the online requisition for 11,508 vacancies had been received.In 2011, the state govt had decided that 50% of vacancies in urban schools would be filled by transferring experienced teachers from rural schools to ensure the smooth functioning of classes.Meanwhile, thousands of candidates possessing diploma in elementary education (DElEd) qualifications and teacher eligibility test (TET) certificates have been waiting for a major recruitment drive since the appointment process for 69,000 teachers was completed in 2019.
