The Education ministry has formulated MPO Policy-21 for MPO enlisted educational institutions. In this policy, we have seen some positive changes than the policy formulated earlier. For example, at the college level, 5: 2 ratio systems have been abolished in the post of assistant professor among them.

According to section no 11.4 of the MPO Policy-2021 '50 percent of the teachers will be promoted to the post of 'Assistant Professor' who has 8 years teaching experience with judging several assessment indicators that is mentioned in MPO policy -2021. From the MPO the rest of the teachers will get higher grades if they served 10 years teaching satisfactorily and other higher grades will be available for those who have taught college 6 years uninterruptedly. After completing 16 years, they will be promoted to the post of 'Assistant Professor'.' But some questions and frustration have arisen in these connections.

Firstly, is the section applicable for new colleges or to all new and old colleges? If this section is applicable only to new colleges, then the question is what rules will the old colleges follow to promote as assistant professor from lecturer? And if this rule applies to old colleges as well, then the question arises, will the 50 percent rule exist in this case? If not, then it is a good and commendable initiative, but if it continues, then they will be promoted to the post of 'Assistant Professor' only on the basis of seniority without evaluation, then why the various indicators of evaluation mentioned in the MPO policy 2021? In other words, where and when will this assessment indicator be applied?

Secondly, if 50 percent quota is maintained for the post of Assistant Professor and the Lecturers who have completed 16 years are promoted to the post of Assistant Professor, then the remaining lecturers will not be able to apply for promotion to 'Assistant Professor' although they hold higher degree with publication in journals and many other praiseworthy qualifications. Because, 50% of assistant professors posts will be filled- up before.

In this case, will the objective of formulating the assessment indicator be implemented?

Thirdly, all of our country's Degree level colleges run by the instruction of National University. I think Section 11.4 of the MPO Policy or policy of assistant professor promotion is in conflict with the Private Teacher Employment Rules-2019 which is framed by the National University. Because, according to national university rules for the promotion to the post of Assistant Professor, teachers are required to have at least 5 years of satisfactory teaching experience and two research article publications in any recognized journal.

Fourth, at present, there are many degree colleges where there are 20 or 30 or more teachers and as 5:2 systems, teachers have been promoted to the post of assistant professor as per the previous policy and the rest of the teachers have been working as lecturers for 16-22 years. According to the current policy, teachers who have been teaching 16 years uninterruptedly will be promoted as assistant professor from Lecturer.

After that teachers who have appointed teachers and served 6-15 years as lecturers could not apply for the post of assistant professor before retirement of existing asst. professor although they have  M.Phil/PhD degree including 2 or more article publication in any recognized journal with  other praiseworthy activities due to 50% asst. The professor quota has been fulfilled. How will the ministry evaluate these issues?

Fifth, in MPO Policy-21, the concept of assessment for promotion is very good, but there is no guideline on the condition of getting a certain mark in the assessment index and no mandatory condition mentioned in the MPO policy-2021 for promotion! So it is a concern that if any teacher who has gathered 8 years satisfactory teaching experience uninterruptedly he can be promoted as assistant professor even if he gets 20 marks out of 100 marks in the assessment index due to not mentioned mandatory field or qualifying mark in the assessment rather than seniority. After his promotion a significant portion of other teachers are able to carry 80 out of 100 marks in the evaluation index but they will have to wait for 18-20 years to be promoted as assistant professor as there is a deficit of 2-3 years from only 8 years!

Sixth, another thing is if everyone becomes an assistant professor in 16 years, then the post of 'Associate Professor' needs to be introduced. Because, all assistant professors will exceed associate Professor's basic salary in just 6 years. Therefore, if they are promoted to the post of associate professor and professor based on their publications and research, then the government will not have to spend any extra money in this case. Instead, a chain of command will come to the organization.

The above problems can be solved only by implementing the rules and regulations laid down by the National University under the title 'National University Affiliated Private College Teachers' Terms of Service Regulation (Amended) -2019'. Therefore, if the rules are followed by the National University for promotion to the post of 'Assistant Professor' by giving priority to research, there will be no more discrimination or problem. If this rule is followed, there will be no way for any teacher to be deprived and no incompetent person will be able to hold the post of assistant professor.

There is another way to solve this problem for the time being and the approach is to give 3 years of teaching experience as per the policy of the university and create an opportunity for everyone to apply for the post of Assistant Professor. This will not deprive more senior teachers as they have 15 marks for seniority in the assessment index. And those who are more qualified among the junior teachers will also get a worthy assessment of their qualifications.

However, there are concerns about the number of assessment indicators and the method of assessment, such as the presence of the highest class in the assessment index. What does this mean? The number of classes given to the teacher in the class routine is the same as the number of classes. How to calculate the maximum class?

A total of 20 marks should be allotted in the evaluation index for the research publication and at least 2 publications are required for promotion to assistant professor. At the same time adding 15-20 marks for M.Phil / PhD will be more meaningful and acceptable since the post of assistant professor will now be used for University level teachers.
The writer is a lecturer,
Department of Philosophy,
Feni south -East Degree College