Calcutta, April 21 :     Signalling the onset of a crisis in higher education, Bengal?s 340 government-aided colleges are headed for a shortage of qualified teachers, a key education official said today. Nityananda Saha, state College Service Commission chairman, said one most telling barometer of the looming shortage was the way more and more men and women, chasing college teaching careers, were failing the State Level Eligibility Test (Slet) ? the entry point to higher education teaching. ?I don?t say the crisis is going to hit us tomorrow. In fact, it will not hit us in another few years. But the fact is that we are likely to be overtaken by a severe shortage of teachers if the Slet success rate does not improve,? Saha said, while announcing the 1998 Slet results. According to Saha and other education officials, aspirants for teaching posts from Calcutta and elsewhere in Bengal fare badly in the Slet display an intriguing tendency to score relatively low in their subjects of specialisation. The success rate in the 1998 Slet, conducted, as always, by the College Service Commission, deteriorated further with only 5.6 per cent of a total 4,365 candidates clearing it. ?We are going to find it extremely difficult to fill the vacant teaching posts in colleges if this trend continues.? By an official admission, the 1998 Slet performance was the lowest since the introduction of the test in 1994. The extent of previous successes in the Slet was 17 per cent in 1994, about 10.3 per cent in 1996 and 11.5 per cent in 1997. Saha also attributed this year?s poor performance to a new rule introduced by the University Grants Commission making it mandatory for the candidates to secure a minimum cut-off percentage in their main subjects. For instance, a candidate applying for lectureship in political science is required to get a minimum qualifying mark in the particular subject. The qualifying marks are different for the science and humanities subjects. The examinees are required to answer questions of 400 marks. Till 1997, the candidates appearing for test were required to secure qualifying marks in aggregate to become eligible to apply for lectureship in the state. A successful Slet candidate is also eligible for teaching posts in colleges and universities of other states. This apart, they qualify for fellowships in state- sponsored research projects in all universities in Bengal. ?The success rate this year would not have been so poor had the UGC not introduced the rule,? Saha said. The commission is concerned about the candidates? poor performance in their main subjects. ?It is strange the candidates are unable to do well in the subject they seek lectureship in,? the service commission chief said.