As many as 3,700 PhD holders apply for a messenger’s job in UP telecom department

As many as 3,700 PhD degree holders have applied for a job in the telecom wing of Uttar Pradesh (UP) for the post of messengers, the minimum qualification for which is 5^th class.

As per a report by The Times of India, apart from PhD holders, over 50,000 graduate and 28,000 postgraduates also applied for the job.

Unemployment in the state is being blamed, as even Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree and Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) degree holders have applied for the post of messengers. Among the 93,000 people who applied for the position, only 7,400 fit the eligibility criteria, with education between classes 5 and 12.

It is said that the position of the messenger is vacant after almost 12 years. The vacancies, 62 in number, involves delivering messages from office to office in the telecom department.

An official in the department said that a selection test would be conducted due to the high number of applicants. The previous selection process involved signing a declaration by the applicant stating they can ride a bicycle.

The Assistant Director-General (ADG) of Telecom said that this would help increase the quality of work in the department as well as other areas. He further added that a written test is said to be introduced that would test the applicant’s logical reasoning, general knowledge, and basic mathematics.

A senior official at the department has stated that due to the growing cases of unemployment, applicants are attracted to full-time government job positions which offer a salary of Rs 20,000.

The last date of the application was August 16, 2018.