MUMBAI, Sept 4: If you will excuse the cliche, Big Brother is watching again. Professors and lecturers who are even remotely linked to coaching classes are being hounded by the state government and punished in various ways, including suspension and stoppage of salary.But much to the shock and amazement of the state, many moonlighting teachers have cocked a snook at the government - by resigning from colleges even before action could be initiated!In the last month itself, a handful of professors resigned after they could no longer hide they taught in coaching classes. At first glance, the prospect of shunning a stable job and the intellectual tag of a college professor for the insecure working conditions of a coaching class sounds ridiculous. But then..``A lecturer can barely earn Rs 9,000 per month in college. But if he were also to teach in a coaching class, charging Rs 200 per hour, he could earn Rs 1,000 daily. That's Rs 30,000 per month, by modest estimates,'' said Professor Shyam Sundar ofGuru Nanak College. He added that though coaching classes can't be a substitute for real learning in colleges, he personally knows five teachers who quit college in the past for private classes.``Why shouldn't some of the less idealistic and more money-minded teachers do this? Compared to the hefty non-taxable income, flexible working hours and tremendous employment avenues, the job security in college doesn't mean much. In Kerela, coaching classes are considered parallel education institutes as they provide employment to graduates and post-graduates,'' argued Prof Sundar.According to the joint director of higher education, R R Pardeshi, who's the convenor of the three-member zonal committee probing into the professor-coaching class nexus, many more resignations are to follow. ``At the moment, only 50 teachers have been short-listed for the charge of teaching in private tutorials and strict action is necessary to set an example for other teachers. A teacher can't devote time for his college students ifhe also manages coaching classes. One of the professors who recently resigned ran his own classes right next to the college!'' said Pardeshi.Minister of State for Education, Anil Deshmukh, is also not surprised by the growing influence of coaching classes over traditional methods of education. ``I remember two years back I caught a teacher red-handed in Nagpur, but he resigned on the spot, even before I could say show-cause!'' Deshmukh said it was okay for a commerce or a science graduate to teach in these parallel institutes, but not for a college teacher.The President of Forum For Fairness In Education, Bhagvanji Raiyani, the man who started it all by filing a writ petition against coaching classes in Bombay High Court, has an additional suggestion: flying squads raiding private classes should be equipped with video cameras, so that nothing's left to chance. ``In my estimate, the annual turnover of coaching classes and private tuitions is around Rs 3,000 crore in Maharashtra. But while collegeprofessors have been banned from coaching classes, school teachers are permitted to give private tuitions to five pupils for two hours daily, under rule 76 (ii) of the school code. But how can you regulate these limits?'' questioned Raiyani, urging the state to withdraw the permission to school teachers.However, Professor Aruna Pendse of Kirti College (Dadar) argued only science and commerce teachers are in demand in the market. ``I am a professor of political science and have noticed that students of arts and humanities depend on college lectures or self-study. On the other hand, tremendous competition in the science and commerce stream is forcing students to rush to coaching classes,'' she said.She added the fact that lakhs of college teachers all over India are on strike to demand their due increments reflects on their poor salary scales.``But not everyone has fallen to the temptation of coaching classes. There are still many teachers who will continue to struggle to make both ends meet, but won'tstray. After all, in colleges we mould personalities, in coaching classes they `guarantee' 90 per cent marks by making you a cramming idiot,'' said Professor Mohammed Tahir of Akbar Peerbhoi College of Commerce & Economics. He, however, admitted most students don't mind being idiots for the sake of 90 per cent marks.The proprietor of a commerce coaching class, requesting anonymity, informed: ``An accounts lecture in college is of 50 minutes duration, of which 10 minutes are wasted on attendance. Since the subject is tough, students need personal attention and lots of practice to master the topic in coaching classes. Money is only the by-product of this.''That's a fabulous `by-product' worth a whopping Rs 3,000 crore, according to the Forum, which is convinced that students won't skip lectures for coaching classes if their teachers also come back to the colleges.
