KATHMANDU: Tribhuvan University has promoted eight lecturers with qualifications of only bachelor’s degree to the post of readers, the highest rank of lecturers below professors.

The move has shocked the intellectual circle. According to the TU officials, vacancy for promotion to the posts of professors and readers was announced about a month ago. Forty-five vacancies for professors and 110 for readers was announced for the Faculty of Education.

Eight lecturers permanently working in Sano Thimi Campus, Bhaktapur, with only a bachelor’s degree, were promoted to the post of readers. The promoted lecturers have been working in the TU constituent campus for about three decades.

“This is a shameful act,” said scholar Prof Dr Mana Prasad Wagle. “Are the PhD holders not qualified or unavailable in this country?” wondered Wagle.

TU has 60 constituent campuses and about 7,000 teachers working under it. However, Prof Dr Surya Lal Amatya, rector at TU, expressed ignorance about the matter.

Meanwhile, Dr Prakash Man Shrestha, Dean at the Faculty of Education under TU, admitted that a person with only Bachelor’s degree had been promoted to a reader at Sanothimi Campus under his faculty.

Some 28 years ago, there was a provision of allowing candidates holding bachelor’s degree to be permanently appointed as lecturers in TU. Later, the criteria was changed. Only a person with Master’s degree would only be eligible for the post of a teacher in TU. Shrestha said that there were three processes of promotion in TU — open, internal and extra internal promotion.

According to him, candidates working under the university for more than two dacades were eligible to be promoted to higher posts through Extra internal promotion.

Shrestha expressed dissatisfaction over this process. “It is mandatory to have Master’s degree to teach in higher secondary level. But teachers with qualifications of Bachelor’s degree are teaching Bachelor’s level students in TU,” he said. “I am not satisfied with the current promotion of teachers with only bachelor’s level education to the post of readers under the extra internal promotion process. It will be better to bid farewell to them,” he added.

Shrestha said that the TU Executive Council and TU Service Commission promoted the teachers under the pressure of university teachers’ unions, affiliated to a number of political parties.

“It is not fair where many PhD and Master’s degree holders are unable to do anything about such promotion,” said Wagle.