All undergraduate courses at the Allahabad University (AU) will be of 4-year duration in accordance with the new National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 from the academic session 2025-26.
The syllabus and evaluation pattern related to the new system will soon be passed by the academic council, the top decision-making body of the central varsity for all academic affairs.
A decision in this regard was taken on Friday in a meeting of AU’s executive council held in the North Hall. The meeting was chaired by vice-chancellor Sangita Srivastava, said AU PRO prof Jaya Kapoor while confirming the development.
The meeting saw the minutes of the meeting of the Rationalization Committee and Roster Committee, which had been passed by the academic council, also being passed by the executive council. With this, the vacant posts can be advertised for and fresh recruitment of teachers be made, said the PRO.
So far, during the tenure of V-C Sangita Srivastava, around 1,100 appointments have been made, including about 360 appointments against 567 posts of teachers, with others being non-teaching appointments.
The envelopes containing recommendations of the selection committee for appointment in the mathematics department were also opened in the executive council meeting and the appointment of five assistant professors was approved, including two each in unreserved and OBC categories and one in EWS category. No appointments were made to the posts of associate professor and professor in the department, and they went as ‘none found suitable’ (NFS), prof Kapoor said.
The executive council approved the appointment of Devesh Goswami for the post of deputy registrar on the basis of interview for the advertised post, and also approved appointments to 98 multi-tasking staff (MTS) and 39 skilled MTS posts on the basis of written examinations for non-teaching recruitment conducted recently.
An important decision was taken by the working council. Those teachers and employees who come under the new pension scheme will also be given gratuity. Another important decision was taken in the meeting that now the probation period of all teachers will be one year instead of two years, said prof Kapoor.
Services of asst prof terminated
In the executive council meeting held in October 2024, Deepshikha Sonkar, an assistant professor in the economics department, had been issued notice based on the charges of attempts to tarnish the image of senior professors of the university with baseless complaints and lawsuits. The executive council on Friday decided to give Sonkar an additional time of two weeks to respond to the notice.
However, regarding the matter of Deepshikha Sonkar not returning to the department for more than 2 years even after her maternity leave was over, the executive council unanimously expressed its opinion that this behaviour would be considered as deliberate insubordination
and willful disobedience, said prof Kapoor.
Despite being given repeated opportunities to explain her position, she did not give any satisfactory reason. This was taken seriously by all the members and the executive council, which unanimously decided to terminate her services, she added.