Editor,

I would like to highlight an important point regarding the calculation of teaching experience marks in assistant professor selections. To ensure fairness, screening committees must carefully differentiate between school education and higher education experience.

The UGC regulations explicitly state that teaching experience is valid only if it is earned in an academic position equivalent to an assistant professor within a recognised university or college. School-level teaching belongs to secondary education, which operates under a completely different academic and administrative framework.

Including school experience certificates in screening scores creates an imbalance for PhD and

NET-qualified candidates who have invested years in higher education teaching. Therefore, recruitment boards are requested to omit secondary school experience during score calculations and strictly follow the criteria set by the UGC. This simple step will maintain transparency and protect the standards.

Concerned candidate