Telangana’s Core Engineering Seat Cutbacks Leave Senior Faculty Unemployed and Struggling to Survive
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Over 70% drop in core engineering seats in Telangana since 2020 has left many senior faculty unemployed.
- Former professors are now working as delivery executives and taxi drivers, earning only Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 daily.
- Calls for government intervention grow as educators face financial struggles and an uncertain future.
Hyderabad: In Telangana, a drastic reduction in core engineering seats has left hundreds of senior faculty members out of work and searching for ways to make ends meet, as per a report by TOI. Since 2020, the state has seen over a 70 percent drop in core engineering admissions, pushing seasoned professors – many with advanced degrees and years of experience – onto the streets, where they now work as food delivery executives, taxi drivers, and even run roadside food stalls.
For these former educators, the change has been stark. Once earning between Rs 40,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh a month as respected faculty members, they now scrape by on Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 daily. While some manage as freelance tutors or outsourcing employees, many are struggling with long-term unemployment, even two years after their sudden layoffs.
A former mechanical engineering professor from Ibrahimpatnam now makes about Rs 600 a day delivering food, supplementing his income by offering two-wheeler taxi services. He shared, “I quit when I was asked to take a 50 percent pay cut on my already reduced salary. While I was initially making around Rs 40,000, it was reduced to Rs 20,000. Then, the management asked me to take another pay cut. I had to leave as there was no way my family could survive on a mere Rs 10,000 a month.” He further shared that his two children, who are in classes 7 and 8, are unaware of his new work, shielding them from the reality of their financial struggles.
Members of the Telangana Technical Institution Employees Association are calling for government intervention to support faculty members facing an uncertain future. D Srinivas Varma, the association’s general secretary, said, “Faculty, who are in their forties and fifties with years of experience, are struggling to survive as neither academia nor industry is keen on utilising their services. After dedicating their life to teaching for decades, they are now forced to do odd jobs.”
An official from the technical education department stated that the state will adjust seat allotments based on industry needs from the upcoming academic year. “Even this year, we did not allow colleges to increase CSE seats in the place of core engineering and restricted maximum intake in a course to 120. In coming years, we are going to be more stringent and have a balanced approach,” the official said.
