PRAYAGRAJ, June 24 -- In a major boost to higher education and employment generation ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, one of the biggest recruitment drives for assistant professors in government-aided degree colleges in nearly 20 years is set to begin. More than 1,600 vacant assistant professor posts in 330 government-aided degree colleges across Uttar Pradesh are proposed to be filled. The Directorate of Higher Education has received vacancy details from colleges and uploaded the information on the Uttar Pradesh Education Service Selection Commission (UPESSC) portal. Officials said the vacancy details are being verified against posts included in advertisement no. 51, and the final requisition is expected to be sent to the commission in the coming days. Once it receives the requisition, UPESSC will begin the recruitment process and issue a notification inviting applications from eligible candidates, a senior official said. The proposed recruitment drive has grown significantly from the initial estimate of around 1,150 vacancies. Officials said the increase is due to stricter monitoring by the Directorate of Higher Education, which led several aided colleges to report additional vacant posts. Director of Higher Education BL Sharma confirmed that details of the vacant posts are being uploaded through the commission's portal. "The recruitment will help address faculty shortages in government-aided colleges while creating substantial employment opportunities for qualified candidates across disciplines," he said. The last major recruitment exercise for assistant professors in aided colleges was initiated in 2022, when 1,017 posts were advertised. Excluding 109 BEd posts, the written re-examination for the remaining 910 posts was conducted on April 18 and 19 this year. Meanwhile, the number of vacant principal posts in government-aided colleges is also expected to rise. The Directorate of Higher Education has already sent a requisition for 111 principal posts through the commission's portal. However, several colleges are yet to furnish vacancy details. To ascertain the actual number of vacancies, the directorate has sought verification reports from Regional Higher Education Officers. Preliminary reports indicate that more vacant principal posts may be added to the recruitment process in the coming weeks, officials said....