AICTE tweaks ratio, 12,000 engg teachers get pink slip
Teacher-Student Ratio Changed From 1:15 To 1:20
Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com
Chennai:27.06.2018
Nearly 12,000 engineering college teachers in Tamil Nadu have lost their jobs owing to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) changing the teacher-student ratio from 1:15 to 1:20.
The scale-down has happened, ironically, in a state where 40 % of engineering graduates are considered unemployable, because of poor quality of training they received. Tamil Nadu, with more than 550 engineering colleges and 10 lakh students, is the state with the most number of such institutions in the country.
As per the old ratio of 1:15, TN engineering colleges should have appointed 66,000 teachers, but many did not adhere to the norm. “Colleges had only about 55,000 teachers on the payrolls,” said K M Kartthik, founder of Private Educational Institutions Employees Association. Many of the sacked teachers had at least 10 years of experience and were earning more than ₹40,000 per month, he said.
An associate professor in Chennai, who was sacked this May, said he has to dig into his meager savings till he finds a job. “There is no vacancy for teaching staff in engineering colleges here. Some colleges in Andhra Pradesh are trying to take advantage by offering teaching jobs at half the pay. Brokers too demand 20% of the salary every month.”
Anna univ officials confirmed large-scale job cuts
A woman female assistant professor from Coimbatore said her colleagues, who were fired along with her, tried their luck at marketing firms. “But they say we are overqualified. We are left with no choice,” she said.
Karthick said many colleges are trying to exploit the situation, cutting staff and recruiting new employees who were ready to work for four-digit salaries. P Selvaraj, secretary of Consortium of Self-Financing Professional, Arts and Science Colleges said some of these teachers had come to the profession leaving industries. “When the industries were not doing well, many of them thought teaching would be a better career. See how wrong they were,” he said.
Anna University officials confirmed large-scale job cuts, but refused to put a number to it. People at the AICTE regional office in Chennai refused to comment.
A senior official from the state higher education department said the number of students joining engineering colleges has come down, adding to the drop in teaching jobs. More than 1.2 lakh of the total 2.73 lakh first year seats have gone without takers last year. Official data shows that 30% of engineering colleges have two-thirds of their seats vacant. “The colleges have no option but to follow the AICTE norms. The staff strength has to come down as admissions have dropped,” he said.
“Contrary to arts and science teachers who handle classes for more than 20 hours a week, most of the teaching staff in engineering colleges, particularly heads of departments, work for less than eight hours a week. Salaries of teachers account for 70 % of our total expenses. Without enough number of students, why should we have excess teachers in place?” said Selvaraj, who owns a group of colleges in Trichy.
Teacher-Student Ratio Changed From 1:15 To 1:20
Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com
Chennai:27.06.2018
Nearly 12,000 engineering college teachers in Tamil Nadu have lost their jobs owing to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) changing the teacher-student ratio from 1:15 to 1:20.
The scale-down has happened, ironically, in a state where 40 % of engineering graduates are considered unemployable, because of poor quality of training they received. Tamil Nadu, with more than 550 engineering colleges and 10 lakh students, is the state with the most number of such institutions in the country.
As per the old ratio of 1:15, TN engineering colleges should have appointed 66,000 teachers, but many did not adhere to the norm. “Colleges had only about 55,000 teachers on the payrolls,” said K M Kartthik, founder of Private Educational Institutions Employees Association. Many of the sacked teachers had at least 10 years of experience and were earning more than ₹40,000 per month, he said.
An associate professor in Chennai, who was sacked this May, said he has to dig into his meager savings till he finds a job. “There is no vacancy for teaching staff in engineering colleges here. Some colleges in Andhra Pradesh are trying to take advantage by offering teaching jobs at half the pay. Brokers too demand 20% of the salary every month.”
Anna univ officials confirmed large-scale job cuts
A woman female assistant professor from Coimbatore said her colleagues, who were fired along with her, tried their luck at marketing firms. “But they say we are overqualified. We are left with no choice,” she said.
Karthick said many colleges are trying to exploit the situation, cutting staff and recruiting new employees who were ready to work for four-digit salaries. P Selvaraj, secretary of Consortium of Self-Financing Professional, Arts and Science Colleges said some of these teachers had come to the profession leaving industries. “When the industries were not doing well, many of them thought teaching would be a better career. See how wrong they were,” he said.
Anna University officials confirmed large-scale job cuts, but refused to put a number to it. People at the AICTE regional office in Chennai refused to comment.
A senior official from the state higher education department said the number of students joining engineering colleges has come down, adding to the drop in teaching jobs. More than 1.2 lakh of the total 2.73 lakh first year seats have gone without takers last year. Official data shows that 30% of engineering colleges have two-thirds of their seats vacant. “The colleges have no option but to follow the AICTE norms. The staff strength has to come down as admissions have dropped,” he said.
“Contrary to arts and science teachers who handle classes for more than 20 hours a week, most of the teaching staff in engineering colleges, particularly heads of departments, work for less than eight hours a week. Salaries of teachers account for 70 % of our total expenses. Without enough number of students, why should we have excess teachers in place?” said Selvaraj, who owns a group of colleges in Trichy.
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