KOZHIKODE: Will writing a poem on Facebook cost your job? Ask K Ajin Lal, a young commerce teacher of MET College, Nadapuram, who is gearing up for a war against the college management for sacking him for penning his thoughts on Facebook as a poem. A copy of the termination letter was posted by Ajin on his Facebook wall. Ajin told Express he would launch a fight against the management’s decision. “The college management has not sought an explanation from me before terminating me. In fact, I do not know the reason for my expulsion.
I was informed about my termination on Tuesday by the principal when I went to the college,” he said adding the management sacked him for writing the poem. Ajin’s poem courted controversy after students wrote comments abusing the poem which touched upon the topic ‘wet dreams.’ “I was hurt when my own students wrote abusive comments under my post. A section of students launched a campaign against me with the support of a students’ outfit,” he said. Being a former student of the college, Ajin was an active member of the SFI and had contested elections for the post of college union chairman.
“I am a victim of political propaganda. Many of my students told me they don’t have any grudge against me,” he said. College union chairman Sayed Jabir said Ajin lost his integrity as a teacher after writing such a poem. “A teacher is supposed to uphold his morality. We cannot agree with what he has written. We do not want such a person to teach in a college where there are female students. Hence, we have asked the principal to initiate action against him,” he said. “The decision to expel him was taken by the college management. We had nothing to do with that,” he said. Principal Ammad Edacheri Kandi said the decision to expel him was taken by the college management on account of his poor performance and complaints received from students and parents.
“He is not a regular staffer of the college. Being on probation, there is a clause that he can be dismissed without notice. Hence, there is no space for his allegation that his version was not heard,” he said. The principal said the decision to sack him was not based on his Facebook post. “The management might have considered that too. We cannot tolerate any such conduct from our faculty member. This is a mixed college and we have a code of conduct,” he said.