Prashant Kumar Appointed UPESSC Chairperson, Raising Fresh Hopes for Over a Million Teacher Aspirants in Uttar Pradesh
Prayagraj: A renewed sense of optimism has emerged among lakhs of aspiring teachers in Uttar Pradesh following the appointment of former Director General of Police Prashant Kumar as the Chairperson of the Uttar Pradesh Education Service Selection Commission (UPESSC), Prayagraj, according to an official statement.
The appointment has generated significant expectations as a total of 5,073 teaching posts are slated to be filled in government-aided colleges across the state.
Sources indicate that nearly 14 lakh candidates are likely to apply for and appear in the written examination once the recruitment process begins.
In addition, around 910 posts of Assistant Professors have been lying vacant for nearly three years, further underscoring the urgency of reviving the recruitment machinery.
Officials believe the appointment of Prashant Kumar could inject much-needed momentum into what has so far been a largely inactive commission.
Kumar is a retired Indian Police Service officer of the 1990 batch. He served as the Acting Director General of Police of Uttar Pradesh from January 2024 and retired on May 31 this year.
His appointment has been made under Section 4 of the Uttar Pradesh Education Service Selection Commission (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025, which was recently amended.
The details were communicated through a circular issued by Girijesh Kumar Tyagi, Special Secretary to the Uttar Pradesh government.
The post of UPESSC Chairperson had fallen vacant after the commission’s first chairperson, Professor Kirti Pandey, resigned on September 22, citing personal reasons.
Following Pandey’s resignation, the state government issued a circular inviting applications for the post, with October 21 set as the last date for submission.
The Higher Education Department again invited applications in November, fixing December 10 as the final deadline.
As per the notification, Prashant Kumar’s tenure as UPESSC Chairperson will be three years from the date of appointment or until he attains the age of 65 years, whichever comes earlier.
In November 2023, the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet approved the formation of an integrated UPESSC aimed at ensuring the selection of competent and qualified teachers for higher education, secondary, primary, and upper primary government and government-aided institutions.
Before this restructuring, recruitment for higher education institutions was handled by the Uttar Pradesh Higher Education Services Commission, while the Uttar Pradesh Secondary Education Service Selection Board was responsible for recruiting secondary school teachers.
Four-Year Gap in Teacher Eligibility Test Poses Major Challenge
One of the immediate and significant challenges before the newly constituted commission is the conduct of the Uttar Pradesh Teacher Eligibility Test (UP-TET), which has not been held for the past four years.
The UP-TET 2021 had to be reconducted on January 21, 2022, after the original paper was leaked.
The examination, conducted by the Examination Regulatory Authority, saw its results declared on April 8, 2022.
The state government has now entrusted the responsibility of conducting the UP-TET to the new commission.
Although the UPESSC has proposed January 29 and 30 as tentative dates for the examination, it appears increasingly unlikely that the test can be conducted within such a short timeframe.
Following a Supreme Court directive mandating TET qualification for council teachers, a large number of teachers and aspirants have been waiting anxiously for the examination to be held.
Ensuring a transparent, timely, and leak-free conduct of UP-TET will therefore be a crucial test for the new commission under Prashant Kumar’s leadership.
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