Prakash Javadekar  

More than 1,200 youngsters with Ph.D and M. Tech degrees from institutions like Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, and National Institutes of Technology will spend the next three years teaching at 53 government engineering colleges in rural areas of districts lagging behind in technical education.

Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters on Wednesday that these teachers had already joined the colleges. The teachers will be there on a three-year contract and get paid Rs. 70,000 a month.

Later, they can either choose to stay in academics or join the corporate world.

This initiative, entailing an expenditure of Rs. 370 crore, is a result of the Centre helping state governments fill up vacancies in backward districts in 11 states where engineering students were suffering because of dearth of teachers.

“5,000 people had applied. Out of those, 1,225 were selected and they have already joined,” Mr. Javadekar said.

“As many as one lakh students in these developing states will benefit as a result of this.” Among the over 1200 candidates selected, about 300 have PhD degrees and about 900 have M.Tech degrees.

The focus is on states like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tripura, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and the Andaman and the Nicobar Islands.