According to aggrieved candidates, the Bihar State University Service Commission (BSUSC) had advertised 280 posts of assistant professors in political science across 12 conventional universities in 2020

Patna: Despite an acute shortage of teachers crippling academic work in higher educational institutions across the state, at least eight universities have failed to comply with the state govt’s directive to post newly appointed assistant professors of political science by the Jan 15 deadline. Only four universities — Patliputra University, Veer Kunwar Singh University, B N Mandal University and BRA Bihar University — have completed the process so far.According to aggrieved candidates, the Bihar State University Service Commission (BSUSC) had advertised 280 posts of assistant professors in political science across 12 conventional universities in 2020. The interviews were held nearly five years later, between June 17 and 21, 2025, and the results were declared on June 24. University-wise allotment of selected candidates was issued on July 4 last year, and BSUSC forwarded the list to the state govt in the first week of August.However, sources said the file remained pending in the state education department for about five months due to a query related to the appointment of state rural works minister Ashok Kumar Chaudhary as assistant professor in Patliputra University, coupled with the imposition of the model code of conduct during the Bihar Assembly elections.After the elections concluded and the matter involving Chaudhary’s appointment was cleared, the department released the list to all universities on Dec 15 last year. They were instructed to complete the appointment and posting process within a month, prioritising institutions facing teacher shortages and having adequate student strength. Universities were also directed to thoroughly verify all documents submitted by the candidates.

As of now, only four universities have appointed all teachers against existing vacancies.

Official sources said L N Mithila, Magadh, Munger and Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur universities have completed counselling of candidates but have not done a single appointment so far. Patna University called 13 selected candidates for counselling and document verification on Monday and Tuesday, registrar Shalini said.

Meanwhile, Purnia, Jaya Prakash and Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit universities have not yet announced any schedule for document verification, causing deep anguish and resentment among candidates.

Taking strong exception to the inordinate delay, the working president of the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations of Bihar, K B Sinha, urged the chancellor to intervene and expedite the long-pending appointments.

“The chancellor must direct the universities to appoint the selected candidates against existing vacancies at the earliest so that they are not subjected to unnecessary mental agony. Timely posting of these teachers would also ensure regular academic activities in educational institutions,” Sinha added.