Assam Model College Recruitment: Impractical Goals For Probationers & Unjustified Salary

Amidst the ongoing row over faculty selection in Assam’s model colleges, controversy has deepened with directives to appoint retired professors in newly established institutions and pay them with a pay scale of ₹1 lakh per month while newly appointed professors are to be paid only ₹50,000.  

In a decisive and triggering statement during today’s cabinet meeting, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said there would be no changes to the pay scale for retired professors. Brushing aside growing appeals for revision, he firmly declared that there is no point in pressuring him to alter it.

The controversy erupted after a July 18 directive instructed four model colleges to appoint two retired faculty per department at ₹1 lakh/month, violating UGC rules that require open recruitment and bar mass contractual hiring in sanctioned posts.

Research Scholar Associations Discussed With Govt With Alternate Proposals 

The Gauhati University Research Scholars’ Association (GURSA) slammed the three-year probation and ₹50,000 fixed pay for new recruits as unfair, accusing the government of sidelining qualified youth in favour of retired professors and undermining academic renewal.

GURSA and other research scholar associations, including AARSA (All Assam Research Scholars Association), discussed with the govt, including CM Dr. Sarma, about their concerns. 

Ranjan Das, a Ph.D in Sociology from Assam University and an advisor of AARSA, told Pratidin Time that AARSA proposed that the government give promotion to the pending 1700 assistant professors to associate level across provincialised colleges in Assam and then transfer some of them to the new model colleges. Das claimed that it would have been the best option as the experienced faculty would have been posted in the new model colleges, and at the same time, without depriving the new aspirants of their dream job.

The officially stated 50:50 ratio between newly recruited and retired faculty is, in practice, being implemented as a 2:1 split favouring retired teachers in those departments where 3 vacancies exist.  As a result, NET/SLET/PhD-qualified youth are effectively restricted to just one-third of available positions, limiting opportunities for generational renewal in academia.

Fixed Pay Trap: Probation Period Turns Into Pay Suppression

Appointed with hope, newly recruited faculty begin their journey in higher education only to find themselves locked into a fixed pay of ₹50,000 per month for three long years. This is not just a number, it is a breach of dignity. UGC norms clearly mandate full 7th CPC pay scales from the date of appointment on sanctioned posts. Yet, probation is used as a pretext to withhold rightful salaries and allowances, reducing qualified educators to temporary placeholders in a system that owes them recognition.

But the injustice runs deeper. Even after serving the probation period, regularisation is not assured. It rests solely on the discretion of the college governing body(GB). The government proposal mandates inclusion of the local MLA in the GB along with subject experts, Vice-Chancellor nominees, and university representatives.   
This has sparked concerns among the aspirants that academic merit would be surpassed by political influence. 

Imparacticable Goals To Be Achieved by Probationers to get Regularised

Ranjan Das further added, “The newly appointed faculty step into the classroom with hope and commitment, yet find themselves burdened with expectations that feel disconnected from reality.  The Office Memorandum demands completion of major or minor government-funded research projects, but probationary teachers, especially in newly established Model Colleges, face an uphill battle.” He also said  that, “with little institutional infrastructure and limited eligibility, the path to securing such grants is often closed before it even begins.”

The pressure doesn’t stop there. Citation metrics are held up as measures of research quality within a narrow three-year window, disregarding the fact that citations vary widely across disciplines, grow slowly over time, and remain largely beyond the control of early-career researchers. For those in the social sciences and humanities, the disadvantage is even more acute.

Das also stated that, “mandating the organization of national or international seminars adds another layer of strain. Most new colleges lack NAAC accreditation or the basic infrastructure needed to host such events, let alone secure external funding.”  The demand is clear, but the means to fulfill it are missing.

The imbalance extends to workload too. Assigning 30% weight to administrative duties, 20% to research, and only 5% to teaching turns the academic role on its head. Such skewed priorities devalue classroom engagement and overload young faculty with responsibilities that leave little room for the very reason they entered academia, to teach, to learn, and to inspire.

Even expectations of contributing to curriculum reform ring hollow when access to Boards of Studies is restricted to senior faculty at the university level, leaving junior teachers with no seat at the table. The system demands participation but denies the pathways.

Evaluation through NAAC or NIRF rankings during the probationary period adds yet another burden. These processes don’t even begin until an institution has completed five years, rendering the criteria not just demanding, but structurally irrelevant.

What We Stand For, and What Must Change

The AARSA has called for an urgent review and redrafting of the Office Memorandum in consultation with UGC and academic bodies. He demanded strict adherence to UGC norms in appointments, including sanctioned pay, proper selection committees, and open advertisements. Das urged a shift away from reliance on retired faculty, with preference for early-career scholars, and equal pay for probationary faculty as per UGC scales. He also stressed the need for research infrastructure, mentoring support, and fair weightage to teaching in evaluations. Calling for the removal of political interference in academic recruitment, he further demanded secure regularisation pathways for non-teaching staff in line with NEP 2020.

Also Read: Model College Recruitment Row: GURSA’s Meeting with Assam CM Goes in Vain