COIMBATORE: Exploiting their ‘helplessness’, several private colleges are allegedly forced their faculty members to enroll students through telecalling and have fixed targets for each of them. A faculty member of a private college, on condition of anonymity, said, “Violating State government order, many private colleges are conducting student admission on seat-booking basis and collecting fees ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 depending on courses.
Besides, authorities have given target of calling at least 100 parents daily and ensure at least three students are admitted every day. Professors have turned into telecallers in second-grade colleges, and are chasing students and parents for admission.”
Saying that telecalling was stressful, he said the authorities treated them badly in front of others if they did not meet their target. “The Higher Education Department should intervene in this issue and protect us,” he demanded. A woman faculty member said, “When we call parents and solicit admission, they invariably scold us for disturbing them during work hours. Some even abuse us. As a result, a few professors felt depressed. If we took it up with the authorities, they would say the target should be completed. We continue work here as we don’t have other options to earn a livelihood.”
A HoD in a private college said, “We face this issue every year. Colleges treat us like slaves, and State government is silent.” According to sources, online classes have been stopped temporarily for the second and third-year students, as professors are engaged in admission work.
NR Ravishankar, a former professor and president of Consumer Awareness and Protection Association, said, “Director of Collegiate Education should send a circular that colleges should not involve professors in admission work and conduct an online meeting with the principals about it. The Regional Joint Director of Collegiate Education should monitor and inspect the colleges directly to check whether professors are involved in the admission work or not.”
He alleged that many joint directors were being lethargic in their duty without inspecting the colleges, and if it continued, a bad name would come up on the new government. When asked about it, Higher Education Secretary D Karthikeyan said that he would look into the issue through Director of Collegiate Education.