Anantapur: Private engineering colleges mum on wages to employees

Anantapur: Most of the private engineering college managements have not paid salaries and cleared the past dues of their faculty. However, many of the teachers are being asked to take classes online and attend college for doing NAAC/NBA administrative work during the lockdown. The faculty have sent grievances to All India Council for Technical Education(AICTE) and University Grants Commission(UGC).

Majority of the faculty members are utilised as invigilators, observers, valuators, chief superintendents and scrutinisers during examinations. Because of the lockdown, they have not been able to do that. Further, administration staff are also not working since the lockdown. Many private engineering college staff earn extra money by attending examination duties and valuation work but term end examinations have been indefinitely postponed due to Covid this year, depriving them of that income. Some engineering colleges have not paid the faculty salaries for over eight months. College managements had promised to clear the dues by the end of the academic year, but there is no word from them since the lockdown. Rajendra (name changed), a lecturer of a private engineering college, said that he had not received a single month's salary since May 2020. A few engineering college managements paid 50 per cent salary while most of colleges did not.

Some engineering colleges were sold in this period. Overnight, college managements had downed the shutters of six colleges in Anantapur and Kurnool districts, due to problems and challenges posed by the Covid-19. The college managements have not sent letters to authorities concerned asking them not to make admission for the academic year 2020-21. Students admitted in previous academic years from these colleges are clueless. Name boards have been removed; new private universities have come in their place. Though AICTE has directed private engineering colleges and other technical institutions to pay salaries to their faculty and staff on time during the lockdown, not even a single engineering college is following.