HYDERABAD: Engineering faculty members, who were relieved during the pandemic, are now said to be in demand as several colleges are hiring them for the one-day inspection to get affiliation for the academic year 2021-22.
Colleges are said to be paying Rs 15, 000 to ‘act’ as faculty for one day and are looking for ratified faculty with all necessary documents-- Selection Committee Meeting (SCM) record, faculty ID and relieving letter. Messages are said to have been sent out through third-party consultancies to lure faculty who are without pay for the last one-and-half years or so. “Vacancies for M Tech-CSE visiting faculty. Certificate verification. Only a single visit Rs 15,000. Only ratified candidates having 2020 and 2021 as relieving years are eligible,” read a message received by some of the faculty members in the state.
Faculty said that a majority of colleges are having openings across the branches and have been hiring thousands of them since the last week to have the required number of faculty members for inspection. “When I called on the number mentioned in the message, they said that they will hire immediately and that I just have to go on the inspection day,” said a faculty member, who used to work in the computer science engineering department at a private college. In the state, there are about 175 engineering colleges, of these, majority are affiliated to Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTUH).
While JNTUH officials said that about 25, 000 faculty members are working as engineering faculty in affiliated colleges, faculty members claimed that not even 50% of these faculty are being paid salaries and many of them have been sacked during the pandemic. The JNTUH officials questioned why faculty members are supporting managements by accepting their offer for a day. “There is no way for us to see if a faculty member just came for inspection or has been working in that particular college. Faculty should not take up such offers as we go by the data uploaded by colleges on our website and verify the same when our teams go for inspection,” said an official. The official added that if found guilty, the number of seats will be reduced according to faculty-student ratio. Colleges have time till 7 pm on Monday to apply for affiliation with a 100% late fee.
Colleges are said to be paying Rs 15, 000 to ‘act’ as faculty for one day and are looking for ratified faculty with all necessary documents— Selection Committee Meeting record, faculty ID and relieving letter
