Engineering College Teachers Driven to the Walls by Management and Pandemic

Teachers in Tamil Nadu's engineering colleges continue to suffer due to the COVID-19 pandemic and from being overworked. The pandemic has only worsened their plight, with terminations and wage cuts becoming the 'new normal' for an already underpaid community with no job security.

Several faculty members have resorted to doing menial jobs, including setting up petty shops selling vegetables and fish to tide over during the pandemic.

The absence of a union to represent their interests in the face of the iron-fisted control by college managements – which retain their certificates – are adding to their agony. The managements, on the other hand, continue to collect fees from students despite a drastic reduction in expenditure given the pandemic.

'WORKING WITH REDUCED OR NO WAGES'

The mushrooming of a number of engineering colleges over the past decade laid the foundation for their tragic stories. With campus placements first taking a huge hit after the economic slow down in 2008, admissions to engineering colleges also gradually dropped since 2016.

"The problems of teachers in engineering colleges started five years ago. The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened their condition with college managements increasing their levels of exploitation," said K.M. Karthik, founder of the All India Private College Employees Union (AIPCEU).

Self-financing colleges have resorted to wage cuts and terminations while citing the pandemic and "several colleges have not paid wages for months together," Karthik alleged.

"The management began cutting down on our wages since April last year, despite the fact that it had collected fees for the same academic year. This year it cut our salaries by between 50% and 70%, a move which has impacted our lives severely," an assistant professor from one such institute in Tirunelveli district, who wished anonymity, told Newsclick.

In the absence of a strong union or association, the plight of the teachers remains unheard by state governments.

Commenting on the attempts to unionise teachers in self-financing engineering colleges, Karthik accused the managements of "victimising" those trying to unionise the faculty members. "The managements have different unions to ensure their interests are protected, while the faculty members are targeted, and even terminated for trying to form an union," he alleged.

This comes at a time when the expenditure of the colleges have come down, given that the costs for running hostels, transport facilties, electricity and other maintenance expenses do not exist at the moment.

"After having collected more than 85% of the fees and reducing their expenses, the colleges are not treating the faculty with the minimum respect they deserve," Karthik said.

'SHIFTING TO MENIAL JOBS'

The pandemic and the inhuman approach of the engineering colleges has led post-graduate engineers and qualified science and humanity teachers to shift to menial jobs.

"Many have lost their jobs while others, who have suffered wage cuts, are setting up tea shops, roadside biriyani shops and selling vegetables and fishes," said Karthik.

While the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the regulatory body for engineering colleges across the country, has recommended a wage structure for different cadres of faculty, there are few colleges which implement it.

"An entry-level faculty in an engineering college is supposed to get Rs 57,500 per month as per norms. But, a vast majority of the colleges begin paying at Rs 15,000 a month. This is how qualified teachers are treated in the state", Karthik said.

The faculty members of the colleges are also denied social welfare measures, including paid maternity leaves for women. "I have been working for a college for 11 years now. We are neither provided with provident fund or any insurance schemes. I was not even granted maternity leave," an employee in a Coimbatore college said.

'RETENTION OF CERTIFICATES BY MANAGEMENTS'

Another pressing issue for the faculty members is that the college management retains their certificates on joining.

"What is the need to retain certificates of faculty members? We have seen people die by suicide since certificates were not returned when requested," Karthik said. Self-financing colleges are notorious for using the retention of certificates as a means to threaten faculty members.

"Even if we get better career opportunities we face the uphill task getting back our certificates from the colleges. The AICTE has announced that colleges should not retain certificates, but that has not happened in reality," a faculty member said.

The AIPCEU has demanded an end to the process. "Verification conducted by AICTE or any university can be done through other means, including verification by serial numbers of certificates. By ensuring the retention of certificates, the managements indulge in a literal slave trade," alleged Karthik.

'DOOR TO DOOR CANVASS FOR ADMISSIONS'

Apart from their academic activities, the faculty members are forced to undertake door-to-door campaigns for admissions. Recent years have seen a drastic reduction in enrolments, while the number of colleges and their intake has increased.

"We are like marketing executives for the colleges. They give us a list of students who have written their higher secondary examinations. Even before the results are out, we have to catch them and enrol them for provisional admission," said another faculty member from Kanyakumari.

Responding to a question about government intervention, Karthik accused the managements and state administration of collaborating with each other. "Several political leaders own educational institutions. The bureaucracy works hand-in-glove with both managements and politicians. Bribery extends across these structures. How will they listen to the interests of the teaching community?" he asked.

The AIPCEU has demanded that the state government break the deadlock and come out in support of the teaching community, which remains unorganised.

"A possible solution is to let the government directly collect fees through treasuries and distribute the salaries through banks. Unless there is strong intervention and initiation from the government, the misery of engineering college teachers will not end. The government taking over law-breaking institutions will be the best possible solution," Karthik said.