Wanted! Teachers for a day or until the end of Anna University inspection
“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear,” goes a saying. But these teachers only appear when Anna University inspection committees visit colleges to certify affiliation.
Published: 02nd March 2020 02:34 AM | Last Updated: 02nd March 2020 02:34 AM | A+A A-
By Sushmitha Ramakrishnan
Express News Service
CHENNAI: “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear,” goes a saying. But these teachers only appear when Anna University inspection committees visit colleges to certify affiliation. Express reached out to private engineering college faculty across Tamil Nadu. Faculty members of 28 colleges revealed that several colleges have employed fake staff to meet the Faculty-Student Ratio (FSR) during the ongoing inspections by Anna University (AU) to get their affiliation certified.
AU has begun an inspection of the 552 affiliated colleges to check their compliance with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) regulations. While in the Approval Process Handbook for 2020-21, it had increased the FSR to 1:15, AICTE granted colleges two years to meet the requirement. Colleges have been posting advertisements in newspapers and on social media to hire faculty just for the inspections.
Express accessed the messages sent to faculty members by agents asking for eligible staff for inspection purpose. They have also floated advertisements on several chat groups. One of them read: “Need one PhD in CSE department for inspection purpose in Chennai, Need one PhD in EEE for inspection.” Francis (name changed), a mechanical engineering faculty at a Madurai college, said colleges usually place advertisements in newspapers before inspections asking candidates to apply for vacancies. “When they show up at the interview, they are told that it is only for the purpose of inspection,” he said.
‘Steps taken to ensure no fake teachers are employed’
"She asked if I could submit my certificates for a week and show up on the inspection day at her college. She said they would pay me `10,000 for that one day," said Sajani, adding that many jobless graduates take up this work thinking it's easy money.Francis (name changed), a mechanical engineering faculty at a Madurai college, said colleges usually place advertisements in newspapers before inspections asking candidates to apply for vacancies. "When they show up at the interview, they are told that it is only for the purpose of inspection," he said.
KM Karthik of All India Private College Employees' Union said, "On record, these staff are shown to work throughout the year, while they are given only a single payment - siphoning government funds into their pockets." A few colleges also involve agents/middlemen to hunt for faculty before inspections. Karthik said he has filed a complaint at the CM's office, flagging the issue.
Meanwhile, faculty of the 28 private colleges also indicated that many colleges are struggling to achieve even the previous 1:20 FSR. Whistle-blowers too alleged that some of the colleges have faked up to 150 "faculty members".
"My college has displayed about 60 faculty members on its website ahead of the AU inspections. However, nearly half of them are fake," said a teacher from a college in Namakkal district. A teacher from an engineering college in Kanniyakumari said in the past four years of her employment she had never seen more than a third of the total staff listed by name on the college website. "However, the number of fake staff in each department is limited to one or two, making it hard to track," she said, on request of anonymity.
MK Surappa, Vice-Chancellor of Anna University, said the varsity has taken steps to ensure no such malpractice is followed. These steps include the formation of an inspection committee. Adding that several complaints were received in this regard, he said, "We are thinking of enabling Aadhaar ID and facial recognition to eliminate the possibility of duplication."
“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear,” goes a saying. But these teachers only appear when Anna University inspection committees visit colleges to certify affiliation.
Published: 02nd March 2020 02:34 AM | Last Updated: 02nd March 2020 02:34 AM | A+A A-
By Sushmitha Ramakrishnan
Express News Service
CHENNAI: “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear,” goes a saying. But these teachers only appear when Anna University inspection committees visit colleges to certify affiliation. Express reached out to private engineering college faculty across Tamil Nadu. Faculty members of 28 colleges revealed that several colleges have employed fake staff to meet the Faculty-Student Ratio (FSR) during the ongoing inspections by Anna University (AU) to get their affiliation certified.
AU has begun an inspection of the 552 affiliated colleges to check their compliance with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) regulations. While in the Approval Process Handbook for 2020-21, it had increased the FSR to 1:15, AICTE granted colleges two years to meet the requirement. Colleges have been posting advertisements in newspapers and on social media to hire faculty just for the inspections.
Express accessed the messages sent to faculty members by agents asking for eligible staff for inspection purpose. They have also floated advertisements on several chat groups. One of them read: “Need one PhD in CSE department for inspection purpose in Chennai, Need one PhD in EEE for inspection.” Francis (name changed), a mechanical engineering faculty at a Madurai college, said colleges usually place advertisements in newspapers before inspections asking candidates to apply for vacancies. “When they show up at the interview, they are told that it is only for the purpose of inspection,” he said.
‘Steps taken to ensure no fake teachers are employed’
"She asked if I could submit my certificates for a week and show up on the inspection day at her college. She said they would pay me `10,000 for that one day," said Sajani, adding that many jobless graduates take up this work thinking it's easy money.Francis (name changed), a mechanical engineering faculty at a Madurai college, said colleges usually place advertisements in newspapers before inspections asking candidates to apply for vacancies. "When they show up at the interview, they are told that it is only for the purpose of inspection," he said.
KM Karthik of All India Private College Employees' Union said, "On record, these staff are shown to work throughout the year, while they are given only a single payment - siphoning government funds into their pockets." A few colleges also involve agents/middlemen to hunt for faculty before inspections. Karthik said he has filed a complaint at the CM's office, flagging the issue.
Meanwhile, faculty of the 28 private colleges also indicated that many colleges are struggling to achieve even the previous 1:20 FSR. Whistle-blowers too alleged that some of the colleges have faked up to 150 "faculty members".
"My college has displayed about 60 faculty members on its website ahead of the AU inspections. However, nearly half of them are fake," said a teacher from a college in Namakkal district. A teacher from an engineering college in Kanniyakumari said in the past four years of her employment she had never seen more than a third of the total staff listed by name on the college website. "However, the number of fake staff in each department is limited to one or two, making it hard to track," she said, on request of anonymity.
MK Surappa, Vice-Chancellor of Anna University, said the varsity has taken steps to ensure no such malpractice is followed. These steps include the formation of an inspection committee. Adding that several complaints were received in this regard, he said, "We are thinking of enabling Aadhaar ID and facial recognition to eliminate the possibility of duplication."
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