Shortage of PG teachers forces MCI to relax eligibility criteria
The Medical Council of India (MCI) has relaxed the experience criteria required for teachers taking MBBS classes to be eligible to teach PG students. Earlier, a PG teacher needed to have a total of seven years of experience of which five years were supposed to be as Assistant Professor. The relaxed norms now mandate only a four-year experience as Assistant Professor which means a relaxation of one year . The move is to meet the shortage of PG teachers, said a senior official in the Union Health Ministry. A decision in this regard was taken recently at a meeting of the Board of Governors of the MCI which is an autonomous body under the Health Ministry to regulate the medical education standard in the country. The official explained, “The existing regulations provides that a medical teacher can become postgraduate teacher after eight years of teaching experience out of which five years should be as Assistant Professor. This regulation was made when teaching experience of five ye