Teaching is not everyone’s cup of tea. It is a challenging job for anyone who takes up teaching, after postgraduation, especially as a lecturer in a college.
Teaching students, who are younger by only two or three years, is certainly not an easy task.
This is the reason why aspiring teachers wish to start their career in their own alma mater, where they can get the guidance and support of their erstwhile teachers and staff in the beginning of their career.
So, if one gets an opportunity to teach in his or her institution, half the problem is taken care of.
Metrolife interacted with a few young lecturers who got placed in the college they studied in. Majority of them admitted that sharing the staff room with faculty members, who were once their professors, is a proud thing for them.
And a few of them revealed the flip side as well, where people took them for granted.
Reshma, a lecturer at Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, says she finds more positive sides to teaching in her former college.
“As an alumnus of this college, I find it easy to convince the authorities in certain matters as I know them for years. If the place is new, you have to face many challenges in the beginning and you can’t handle the class confidently. I managed my first class without any nervousness only because I was familiar with the environment,” she feels.
“I wouldn’t have been so proud of my profession, if I was placed in some other college. You feel great when you achieve something in front of your own people,” says Roopa S, one of the lecturers in MES Institutions and adds, “but in some cases people take you for granted. When you are expected to do extra work, you cannot really say ‘no’ and can’t maintain just a professional relationship with your seniors. Some professors still treat you as a student and you can’t help it,” she adds.
Lavanya, a lecturer in biotechnology at City College feels that her life has changed a lot after taking up the job.
“My former teachers, who are now my colleagues, treat me as their equal. There is no junior-senior problem. I have settled down comfortably and my senior teachers are quite a help. Still I feel like a student in front of them as I clear my doubts with them every day. It is because I’m teaching in my alma mater, I am able to
deliver my best as a teacher at the start of my career,” she says.