1225 IIT, NIT scholars to teach technical education in backward areas

New Delhi, February 1: To fulfil the vision of PM Modi to provide thrust to good quality technical and higher education in the backward areas of the country, government has recruited more than 1200 highly qualified and motivated graduates from including IITs and NITs to teach in Engineering Colleges.

He further said that this initiative will help meet the aspirations of youth in the backward areas and fulfil the vision of Prime Minister. He hoped that these teachers would contribute to the entire educational eco-system of the backward areas, apart from promoting a start-up culture among students.

The new recruits will be posted in 53 engineering colleges in states such as Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. They will be paid Rs 70,000 per month and the government has budgeted Rs 375 crore for their salaries, HRD Minister said.

A public appeal was given to the MTech and PhD students from the premier institutions to express interest to work in these backward areas and serve the nation. There was an overwhelming response to the call, and more than 5000 highly qualified persons applied. The interviews were conducted in 20 NITs by constituting expert teams.

The entire process of giving a call and selection has been completed through a competitive and rigorous process of selection done through NITs in a record 2-month period. Finally, 1225 candidates were selected and they have joined 53 colleges in these states. The new faculty will train the youngsters in host of technical institutions for the next 3-years.

Each of the new faculty will be paid Rs. 70,000 per month and the Government is planning to spend about Rs. 375 Cr in 3-year period on this initiative. With this measure, more than 1 lakh engineering students in the most backward areas would be benefited with better quality education.

The reason for backwardness was essentially because of lack of quality teachers in these areas. In many of these institutions have vacancies of teaching faculty (some of them have 40% vacancies), The States have requested Ministry of HRD to help to find teaching support.