Tamil Nadu: Engineering faculty put on canvassing duty to woo students

CHENNAI: Engineering colleges are facing a tough admission season due to the Covid-19 crisis. Fearing dip in admissions, many colleges across the state have put their faculty members on canvassing duty to woo students.


Many colleges have asked their faculty members to call up potential students while some colleges have even assigned them on door-to-door canvassing during the pandemic.

Some colleges in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts asked the faculty members to come to colleges from the second week of May to make telephone calls to Class XII students.

"Out of 90 faculty members in our college, 70 were asked to come daily following the Anna University's circular. Some of them were coming from affected areas inside the city. We were asked to canvass for admissions through telephone calls," a faculty member from private engineering college near Chennai said. Some faculty members also raised concerns about social distancing. A college in Karur district divided the area up to 100 km radius surrounding the college into zones and allotted it to faculty members to canvass door-to-door during the pandemic.

"Door-to-door canvass started in the first week of May. For a zone, two faculty members were allotted and we were asked to admit at least six students to get our salary for May," a faculty member said.

The salary would be reduced if the faculty members do not achieve their given targets. "Some parents didn't wish to talk to us while some greeted us with snacks. Our faculty members have got more than 300 admissions in the past one month," the faculty member added. Colleges also offered scholarships to the students who score above 80% marks in key subjects - Maths, Physics and Chemistry.

Another faculty member said colleges urge the students who are studying on scholarship to canvass and bring new admissions.

K M Karthik, president of Private Educational Institutions Employees Association, said almost all faculty members in engineering colleges are doing admission duty. "Engineering colleges in red zones in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Thiruvallur districts pressurizing the faculty members to come to colleges to do telecalling. The safety of the faculty members is compromised," he said.

However, P Selvaraj, secretary of Consortium of Self-Financing Professional, Arts and Science Colleges, said engineering colleges have not started their admission process yet. "With Covid-19 crisis, it is not possible for faculty members to travel to villages or cities. The state government announced relaxations throughout the state except Chennai and its surrounding areas. Colleges may start their canvassing in coming weeks," he said.