Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday said that a mandatory PhD degree for the post of assistant professors at universities is “not favourable” in the current education system. His remarks came a month after the UGC decided to defer the move to make the degree mandatory for the hiring of assistant professors to 2023.

Speaking during the convocation ceremony of Allahabad University, Pradhan said, “We believe that PhD is not required to become an assistant professor. This condition cannot be kept if good talent is to be drawn to teaching. Yes, it is required at the level of associate professors and professors. But a PhD for assistant professor is perhaps not favourable in our system and that’s why we have rectified it.”

The minister also announced that Allahabad University will now have a chair named for Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, adding that academics working at the chair will carry out research on upliftment of the poor.

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