Patna: The appointment process of ad hoc teachers in government schools will be completed by the first week of August.

Education department's principal secretary R.K. Mahajan held a meeting on Tuesday evening and directed the district education officers concerned to complete the process.

Against the need to appoint 4,257 teachers in Plus Two schools across the state, the department has completed the process for around 2,200 candidates. They have joined service too. Now, the education department expects the remainder will be appointed by the first week of August.

A senior education department official said on condition of anonymity said: "The district education officers concerned have been asked to complete the appointment process by the first week of August."

The education department invited applications last month to fill vacancies for mathematics, science and English teachers at around 5,000 schools. Against 4,257 posts, the department received 4.7 lakh applications.

Applications were invited according to districts. In Patna district, around 36,000 applications were received for 520 posts.

Patna district programme officer Ashok Kumar said: "In Patna district, 367 persons were selected. Of them, only 152 persons have joined service. For the rest of the vacancies, we have sought suggestions from the education department. In this connection a meeting was held with the principal secretary and other senior officials on Tuesday evening."

Based on the department's directives, the Patna district education office will issue a second list.

Ashok said preference will be given to candidates with BEd degrees, followed by MSc and MA degree holders. Sources said around 3.2 lakh of the 4.7 lakh candidates who applied for the posts had BTech and MTech degrees.

For example, among the applicants in Patna district, 32,000 candidates had an engineering background. Such candidates, according to government directive, would be given last preference.