PRAYAGRAJ, Dec. 19 -- Former director general of police (DGP) Prashant Kumar, appointed chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Education Service Selection Commission (UPESSC) on Wednesday, faces the challenge of steering the long-pending recruitment of 5,073 teaching posts in government-aided degree colleges and secondary schools across the state. Candidates have been awaiting progress, particularly in aided degree colleges where vacancies have remained unfilled for years. In aided degree colleges, the written examination for 910 assistant professor posts has already been conducted, but interviews are yet to be held. Before the interview process can begin, the commission will have to address objections raised by candidates over the written examination results. Around one lakh applicants, who applied for these posts by August 31, 2022, had been waiting for the appointment of the commission's chairman. Officials conceded that releasing the results would be among the biggest challenges before the new chairman. In addition, recruitment is to be carried out for 4,163 posts in 4,512 government-aided secondary schools, including 3,539 trained graduate teacher (TGT) posts and 624 post-graduate teacher (PGT) posts. Conducting examinations for these positions will also pose a major challenge for the commission, officials said. As many as 13,33,136 candidates have applied for these posts, and repeated postponements of examination dates have already caused considerable mental stress among aspirants. Ahead of the 2027 assembly elections, the state government may also initiate fresh recruitment drives across departments by seeking requisitions, with teacher recruitment seen as key to sending a positive message to the youth. Another major task before the UPESSC is the conduct of the Uttar Pradesh Teacher Eligibility Test (UP-TET). The UP-TET 2021 had to be reconducted in January 2022 following a paper leak, with results declared in April that year. Although the commission had proposed January 29 and 30 as tentative dates for the next TET, a large number of candidates continue to await the examination following a Supreme Court order mandating TET qualification for all primary and upper primary school teachers. The commission is also tasked with filling posts of principals in government-aided degree and intermediate colleges, headmasters of aided high and junior high schools, assistant professors, lecturers, and PGT teachers in Atal Residential Schools, besides assistant teachers in high schools, junior high schools, affiliated primary schools and Atal Residential Schools. For minority institutions, the commission will handle recruitment of principals, headmasters, assistant professors, lecturers and assistant teachers at various levels. Other responsibilities of the commission include conducting assistant teacher recruitment examinations for primary schools run by the Basic Education Council....