Unpaid for over 6 months, engineering college faculty become daily wage labourers

Several engineering colleges in the State have failed to pay salaries and clear the past dues of their staff.
Unpaid for over 6 months, engineering college faculty become daily wage labourers

CHENNAI: Several engineering colleges in the State have failed to pay salaries and clear the past dues of their staff. This, despite many of them being asked to take classes online during the lockdown. The faculty have appealed to the government to ensure that private colleges disburse their salaries on time. An engineering college from Thiruchengode, for example, has not paid the faculty salaries for over six months, said a staff from the college. While the college had promised to clear the dues by the end of the academic year, they have not heard from the management since the lockdown. “However, they collected one day’s wage from us as COVID-19 relief,” the staff said.

Another faculty from the mechanical department of an engineering college in Kanniyakumari said teaching staff have not been paid for eight months. “Individuals who raise complaints are being spotted and intimidated,” he said. There are at least five other colleges in Kanniyakumari district that have not cleared dues for over three months.“Without the fund, many faculty members resort to daily wage work that their families were doing before they entered teaching. For example I know a faculty member who works at a brick kiln during summers because he wasn’t paid his salary on time,” he said adding that it has become even more difficult to make ends meet during the lockdown. Teachers fear that they will not be paid for March, April and May, even if the dues are cleared later. They suspect that those who demand salaries will be terminated without the dues being cleared.

An engineering college in Erode that employs over 100 faculty members has not paid their staff for four months now said a Chemical engineering department faculty from the college. Ever since the lockdown, teachers have been asked to make lecture videos and notes and circulate them on WhatsApp, he said. “We are also made to conduct classes on Zoom or Google Classroom. In addition to this we have been asked to do some documentation work related to NAAC and NBA inspection that will happen after the lockdown,” the staff said.

He said that freshers and young faculty members struggle the most as they do not have any savings. “Many of them quit without collecting their dues and they are replaced by freshers,” he said. Some other colleges have failed to pay salaries from March, teachers said. “We did not receive salaries in March. The college has not responded when we asked why. We don’t know if they will pay it after the lockdown, or if they will not pay at all,” said a teacher from an engineering college in OMR. 

A member from Self Financed College Management Association told Express on condition of anonymity that while top engineering colleges paid their faculty well, the smaller colleges have less enrolment and are unable to pay teachers on time.

“Some colleges collect semester fees only before exams. Because of the lockdown, they have not been able to do that. Further, admin staff are also not working since the lockdown. Colleges will pay the dues after reopening,” he said. “Colleges are merely using the lockdown as an excuse to not clear the dues. Teachers are living in fear of sustaining their livelihood. The government should intervene and ensure that private colleges pay us on time as teachers are struggling to sustain themselves during the lockdown,” said KM Karthik,  the founder of the All India Private College Employees Union (AIPCEU).

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com