Engineers go for post of teachers

BANGALORE: An engineering graduate teaching in a government high school. It may sound preposterous, but many qualified engineers have grabbed this opportunity.
Talented engineers, who have completed B.Ed courses based on their performance in II PUC, have been hired as government high school teachers in the latest round of recruitment. The trend was noticed a few years ago when these candidates sought admission to B.Ed courses.
“Since most of these candidates apply for the course based on their II PUC performance, it is very difficult to find out the actual number.But 40 such candidates were found in Gulbarga district alone, based on our interaction with teachers. There may be a few hundreds all over the state,’’ department officials said.
With growing number of engineers graduating every year and a shrinking market, these engineers are now turning towards teaching. Since government teaching jobs not only promise stability but also good service conditions, engineering candidates find teaching a better proposition, officials reasoned.
The state has around 50,000 government primary and high schools with 2.5 lakh teachers.
With an attrition rate of 3 per cent every year, the government alone recruits 7,500 teachers each year to fill the vacancies that arise due to retirement and death. A reasonably good performance in II PUC coupled with a first class (more than 70 per cent) in D.Ed for primary schools or B.Ed for high schools, will fetch a job in government schools.
“But the only sore point for these candidates could be the rural postings. Getting a posting in a government school in urban areas is extremely difficult because of the competition, and a brilliant performance in D.Ed or B.Ed can be the deciding factor. With a transparent process of selection coming in, there is very little scope for recommendations,’’ officials explained.
Not that the government is grudging the entry of qualified engineers.
“In fact, our students have benefited as their knowledge base is sound and thorough, especially in science, mathematics and English,’’ they said.
The department has, however, not conducted any survey about the actual number of such engineers as most of the candidates would not want to reveal their background for various reasons. “We cannot force candidates to reveal their details and try to get information through one-to-one interactions,’’ they added.