TEQIP Phase III ends, fate of jobless faculty hangs in balance

Bihar and Uttarakhand have come forward to retain these highly qualified teachers since TEQIP faculty members have been protesting about their impending unemployment in New Delhi for several months now. 

Image courtesy: Twitter

The Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP) that focused on improving quality and equity in rural engineering institutions was extended thrice before finally being discontinued on September 30, 2021. 

A World Bank-funded project to take graduates from premiere institutions to rural engineering colleges has come to an end, leaving thousands of assistant professors jobless. In 2018, nearly 1,500 graduates and postgraduates from Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore were recruited in engineering institutes in rural and semi-urban areas across 12 states and union territories (UTs) under the Centre’s TEQIP-III project to improve the quality of technical education there.  

These assistant professors are now jobless as their contracts expired on September 30, 2021. On completion of their contracts, they were to be absorbed by the state governments. While the initial advertisement for TEQIP-III was about project-based recruitment, the Central government had asked participating states/UTs to prepare a “sustainability plan” to retain these assistant professors after three years in a permanent capacity, but to no avail.  

Bihar, Uttarakhand extend tenure  

Barring Bihar and Uttarakhand, no other state or UT has come forward to retain these highly qualified teachers as promised. These teachers have been protesting about their impending unemployment in New Delhi for several months demanding regular jobs. On September 17, more than 200 TEQIP faculty members celebrated Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday in Central Delhi and demanded regular jobs as a return gift. They wonder what will be their fate after putting in over 3.5 years to improve the standard of technical education in the rural belt. 

Shiksha got in touch with a few teachers recruited under the TEQIP-III project. Let’s see what they have to say. 

Extension only for 6 months 

Ashok Manohari, who is working as an assistant professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering, Women’s Institute of Technology (WIT), Dehradun, had never thought that he would be rendered jobless. He completed his PhD in electrical engineering from IIT Roorkee in 2016. 

He said, “Even though the Uttarakhand government has extended our tenure till March 2022, our future hangs fire. We were appointed after several rounds of presentations and interviews. I felt that I would be absorbed in permanent position at the end of the project, but there does not seem to be any process in place to reappoint us.” 

He said, “An MoU was also signed between the Central government and state governments as per which well-performing faculty hired using project funds would be retained post project, but no state government has assured that these professors would be able to retain their jobs.” 

“I was working at NIT Delhi before taking up this project. When I came here there was no chairs to sit and today we have 5-6 labs and other essential equipment. We did whatever we could with limited resources. Also, there is shortage of staff in engineering colleges. If they remove us, studies will be severely affected,” he added. 

Image via Twitter

'Neither state nor Centre taking responsibility of our future'  

Tejas Bele, a postgraduate in Aerospace Engineering from IIT Bombay, was appointed an assistant professor at Ujjain Engineering College in 2017. He said the third phase of TEQIP began in 2017 and although it was supposed to end by September 2020, they got extension thrice -- September 2020, March 2021 and September 2021.  

He said, “We have been protesting in Delhi for the past 38 days, but there are no signs of the faculty members being absorbed as per the MoU. Even though we have significantly improved the quality of education in engineering colleges which were severely understaffed, the institutes are not showing any interest.” 

He went on to add, “Not only this, we had recently launched our TEQIP faculty YouTube channel “Let’s Crack the GATE” where we are training students for GATE exam for free. More than 20,000 students have already joined us there. Now, we are in a limbo as neither the state nor the Centre is taking the responsibility of our future.” 

No assurance from Centre 

Vivek Shukla, an assistant professor at Ujjain Engineering College, who has done MTech in microelectronics and VLSI design from NIT Calicut, said, “We are unemployed and waiting for an action from the state or the Central government. We improved the quality of education and also contributed to infrastructure development to a great extent. We have been running from pillar to post, sending emails to the Ministry of Education seeking a clarity on our jobs but to no avail. We had met Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Vineet Joshi, additional secretary, higher education but they have not given any clarity or assurance on whether we would be retained. They just said they were discussing the issue with the states.”  

‘We want permanent solution to our problem’ 

Mritunjay Kumar, an assistant professor at Gaya College of Engineering, Bihar, has done his MTech in mechanical engineering from IIT Hyderabad. He said, “I am working here for the past around four years. Since then I have put in a lot of efforts to improve the quality of education. When we joined the college, there was no permanent faculty, just one principal and 4-5 guest faculty for nearly 1,000 students. Also, before our joining, placements were very poor, and this year, more than 50 students were placed.” 

“The Bihar government extended our contract for one year in March 2021, but there is no assurity. We want a permanent solution to our problem. We request the government to regularise our services,” he added. 

Read more: 

• TEQIP III: Only Bihar, Uttarakhand agree to keep IIT, NIT pass-outs as faculty in rural engg institutes 
• TEQIP teachers demand regularisation in services