Mukundan (name changed), an engineering college teacher in Namakkal district, has around 10 years experience. He dreads the lean semester.
“During the fifth semester we are told to stay away as students go for internship. I have to do odd jobs to run my family,” says Mukundan, who is registered with the Employment Exchange for a government job.
Mukundan was absorbed by the college as fresh post-graduate but there has been no incentive to improve in his job for several years.
He is one of the many teachers who are victims of exploitative colleges, says Moorthy Selvakumaran, an education consultant.
Profit
“Colleges replace highly qualified teachers with fresh ME candidates for a monthly salary of around Rs. 15,000. This is done to enable colleges maintain their profits,” he says.
“Economising on teachers is common among universities and institutions running several colleges as the salary bills are the highest expense,” says M. Anandakrishnan, former Vice Chancellor of Anna University.
“Very few colleges maintain the ideal student-teacher ratio of 1:15 or 1:20. At one time the All India Council for Technical Education directed institutions to provide details of teachers and their photos to enable them verify but a lot of people dodge,” he says.
The situation has not helped as AICTE has no mechanism to monitor colleges violating the rules. This has not only fuelled exploitation of teachers but leads to disinterest in enhancing students’ knowledge, say academics.
