Teachers in Maharashtra take up odd jobs to make ends meet

In a bid to make ends meet professors from engineering colleges with years of experience and who have lost their jobs are taking up work like software installations logistics or administrative work in the manufacturing sector call centre or backoffice profiles The dire situation came to light when a professor created a system Disha offering placements to teachers In just a week the portal has received over 50 registrationsDr Prashant Lokhande had reached out to around 350 companies for jobs for professors Representation picDr Prashant Lokhande who teaches at Pillai College of Engineering decided to use his experience as a placement officer for students for teachers Through his system Disha professors who have lost jobs can register with their specific skill set to apply for jobs available in the market The only condition Disha has is to be open to any and all opportunities keeping survival as the only objectiveldquoI have approached over 350 companies of which 50 have responded positively Most of them have said that there will be jobs but they may not be what the teachers are expecting considering their education and experience But companies are willing to offer roles after a thorough selection process as they feel teachers will be able to grasp fasterrdquo said LokhandeProfessor Vaibhav Narawade president MUCTALokhande added ldquoEngineering professors do have technical knowledge So one company asked if they know software installation so that they can be trained for installing softwares in laptops and given jobs Some companies need people to make digital content in the technical sector while many bigger companies said they have openings in general profiles starting from managers in inventory or other administrative wings among others These profiles may not pay as well as teaching But something is better than nothing when the question is of survival Companies who responded will pay at least Rs 15000 at the beginningrdquo Lokhande added that many BPOs too responded with roles in the backoffice and dataentry ldquoRecruiters from call centres said how older people cannot keep up with the crazy shift timings so they would rather hire them for jobs in regular shifts instead of callingrdquo Lokhande saidA form that Dr Prashant Lokhande has created as part of his Disha Abhiyan initiativelsquoCan focus on teaching laterrsquoldquoI was willing to take up a receptionistrsquos job at a hotel Then Disha Abhiyan came as a major relief Through the system I have applied for a school teacherrsquos jobrdquo said Deepak Wagh 52 a mathematics professor for engineering who worked for over a decade at Yadavrao Tasgaonkar Institute of Engineering amp Technology in Karjat Unlike others Wagh left his job ldquoWhat do you do if yoursquore not being paid for months togetherrdquo said the Panvel resident adding that the survival of his family of four was becoming difficult every month ldquoI have a home loan I have to pay fees for my childrenrsquos education For how long can you seek relativesrsquo help I needed cash flow to resume I can focus on teaching later when the situation is betterrdquo said Wagh who fortunately got a job somewhat similar to his previous profile although he never thought hersquod have to teach at a schoolTrupti Patil too has a similar situation She had been working as an adhoc professor for around seven years at the computer engineering department of Ramrai Adik Institute of Technology RAIT ldquoRight now it is important for me to have a job whether it is in teaching or not I have to pay EMIs and for my childrenrsquos education Thankfully my husband has his job but without my earnings it is getting difficult to manage everything I am open to the different roles Disha has to offer Keeping my fingers crossed to get a job soonrdquo Patil an Airoli resident said Patil has a Masters in Engineering and an MBA in marketing Having admired her father a teacher she likes the professionWhile there are many temporary teachers who lost jobs the wait for salaries has frustrated permanent teachers ldquoWith the government and regulatory bodies such as Directorate of Technical Education DTE and All India Council for Technical Education AICTE being mute spectators the situation is very grim at engineering colleges Around 90 per cent of the colleges have enforced pay cuts even though students have been asked to pay full feesrdquo said Professor Vaibhav Narawade president of Mumbai University College Teachersrsquo Association MUCTA adding that Disha is an effort by the teachers for the teachers to aid survivalRecruiter speaksEKeeda a company providing digital content for engineering studies is one of the recruiters on Disha The profiles offered by EKeeda are similar to what professors were doing with the difference being that itrsquos on a digital platformFounder and CEO of the company Mahesh Wagh said ldquoWe create econtent for engineering studies so having qualified teachers on board is important for us We are currently evaluating the details provided by Dr Lokhande to understand skill sets of interested applicants Then we can identify who can record video lectures or create question banks or help prepare notes for various subjects among other roles350No of companies Dr Prashant Lokhande reached out to regarding jobs