Lucknow, Oct 28 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday lifted the bar on the promotion of associate professors of the state-run and aided colleges, a move likely to benefit around 4,000 employees at about 500 such institutions. Till now, associate professors of the colleges were not getting promoted to the post of professor, prompting them to go to other states. "It was a long pending demand of the teaching community, which the department under the direction of CM Yogi Adityanath fulfilled today," said Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, who holds the secondary and higher education portfolio. Around 4,000 associate professors of about 500 government degree and government-aided colleges will be benefited under the career advancement scheme, he said. Due to the lack of facility, a large number of qualified teachers were leaving the state to get promoted as professors in other states and the move will pave the way for their "ghar vaapsi", Sharma added. "Because of the bar on promotion to the post of professor, teachers used to compare this with the Article 370 of Jammu and Kashmir," the minister said, claiming many teachers compared the move with the scrapping of the provision in J-K. The announcement will come into effect with issue of a notification and it is in accordance with norms of the University Grants Commission (UGC), he said. When asked if the step was taken in view of the upcoming Assembly elections, he answered in negative, saying, "It is a part of continuous reforms in the field of education in the state under the current rule." Lauding works done by the Adityanath government, Sharma said because of the widespread measures to bring a qualitative change in education, UP which before 2017 was accorded "C” grade by the Centre, has now gained "A” grade. The grading is done on the basis of several parameters like standard of courses, reforms in education and research work, among others. Describing today"s decision as "historic" and "unprecedented", Sharma said, "Associate professors of UP after getting the coveted professor post can become vice-chancellors, directors of reputed institutions and can supervise research work, which they were deprived of till now." Underscoring reforms in the education system, Sharma said the most important step taken by the present government was to ensure that examinations in higher education institutes are conducted on time in short span and free from cheating. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi often used to say that the previous government used to give tenders of "nakal" (cheating). The Yogi Adityanath government has ended this practice," he said. Talking about steps taken to strengthen education infrastructure, he said the setting up of 12 new state universities is under progress besides 77 degree colleges and 250 new secondary schools have been opened. The process is also on to recruit retired teachers in higher education institutes on contractual basis to fill vacancies, he said. PTI NAV SNS RDK