The plight of working as a faculty in Engineering Colleges in the current scenario- an Article.

Dear Friends,

I would like to share my views with you on this article, which may sense the Engineering students and their parents, faculty of Engineering education, the management who run these colleges and of course, the auspicious students who want to join the web of Engineering world...
    

During the early years of engineering education, working as a faculty is a matter of great respect. They enjoyed a great respect, experienced lot many privileges as faculty. They were well paid, given other financial allowances like semester exam invigilation amount and other things. Salaries were paid in very first week of every month. There were no unqualified faculty in the colleges. The faculty were resourceful, potential, knowledge seekers. Students would respect them, like them like anything. They dared not sit in the presence of their faculty and hardly mock at them.
    

But now, all the above mentioned things have extinguished. In most of the current Engineering colleges of A.P. the faculty are very meagerly paid, and that too, salaries are paid once in two months, in worst cases once in three months. It is also fact that very few colleges of A.P. pay external exam invigilation amount and lab exam conduction amount to their faculty, though they deserve it. I think there are very few colleges in A.P., in which the faculty inwardly respect their management due to these reasons.
    

Of course, faculty should possess required qualification and good teaching skills along with sound subject knowledge. In the recent years there are very few potential, skilled faculty in most of the colleges. They use rigid methods of teaching, don't make the students involve in the subject they teach. But, the management, pitily, don't ever concern the competencies of their faculty. They don't bother whether the faculty concerned really has good teaching skills or not. In order to recruit a faculty into the college, Principals, H.O.D.s and other officials take the caste, religious, locality of the employ into consideration. It is totally absurd, I feel. The faculty recruited basing on their caste, religion and locality is very disgusting to know. Isn't it? It is a naked truth that in most of the current Engineering colleges in A.P., a resourceful faculty is less paid than a recommended candidate under the shade of caste, religion etc. What about their teaching & subject standards? What kind of knowledge do they deliver to their innocent students? Unfortunately, these are unanswerable questions in engineering colleges. In fact, they possess very poor subject knowledge. Not to talk about their English proficiency. They hardly speak in English in the class& with the students.
    

 It is true that students respect the teacher who sincerely teaches them with a commitment to make them potential 'students’. Unfortunately we have very less number of teachers like this. That might be the reason, Engineering students hardly respect their faculty both in teacher's presence and absence; outwardly and in their soul...

      Another problematic thing in most of the Engineering colleges is B. Tech graduates teach to B. Tech students, which I haven’t been figured it out until now. How can a graduate student officially teach B. Tech students? Can this faculty justify their job? Poor students, they don't know these ground realities prevailed in their college. Even they sense these things, they can do nothing as approaching to the management in this regard is useless and if the students go for extremes, it is inevitable that their certificates might be in danger in due course and their Degree itself will be screwed up. I have heard of it through some Engineering students who have come across me.
What about, in general, the functions of Engineering faculty? It is pitiable to know that the faculty, now-a-days, not only have to perform the job of teaching but clerical works, even attender works in the worst case. It is prevalent now in almost all the Engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh.
I'm not saying that the faculty should have a great deal of free time to rest. I recommend that the faculty should have a reasonable leisure time to think of innovative methods of teaching their subject, to think of conducting seminars, presentations, debates, and workshops etc. which are beneficial for students. It is true that most of the current Engineering graduates possess only bookish knowledge. They don't have the practical knowledge of their course. In fact faculty should instill this practical knowledge in the students, who should become the successful engineers of India. This is what exactly lagging in our most of the so called Engineering colleges.

     In their non-teaching hours, in general, the faculty are always hooked in clerical works like writing attendance registers, course files, student mentor books, faculty books and the so called giant NAAC files. If they always do these things, where is the scope for the faculty to think of innovative methods of teaching...? I am not saying all these things are unnecessary. But these things shouldn't involve faculty to do them painstakingly. The managements may think that faculty should think of innovative teaching and other experiments at home. But practically, it doesn't afford faculty to find time do these things at home. Because of their busy involvement in these unproductive activities, the faculty have forgot to think and implement any productive experiments during their class hours. Hence, the result is, students feel boredom of listening casual, traditional, inactive, teacher-centered classes. That's why very few students pay attention to their teaching, focus on their course.

     I would like to recommend that the faculty should be given a reasonable leisure time to do something for the progress and potentiality of the students. Of course management, here, should seek the faculty's tasks every now and then by conducting staff meetings. If it happens, every faculty will certainly put their efforts to enhance their subject knowledge thereby implement a few innovative experiments for the sake of the students. Otherwise, teachers just remain as faculty not as scholars in their subject, and students’ standards will not be improved. Students possess mere knowledge; will only be treated as nominal degree holders during the time of interviews.
That's it friends... This is what I felt and noticed in the Engineering web as a faculty. 

I hope my views on this article make sense to you at least.

Yours,
Vali Basha Shaik
M. A.,B. Ed. M. Phil (pursuing)
Asst. Prof of English

Guntur.