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Come
April and May of a year and there is a perceptible change in the mood and
behaviour of the expatriate faculty at Bahirdar University. There were three
grades of faculty, one, the regular Ethiopian faculty who were on permanent
tenure, two, expatriate faculty working on voluntary basis and third category
were foreign teachers who worked under the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme).
Expatriate teachers were not on permanent tenure and their contracts were for
two-years.
The
volunteer teachers came from a different scheme and were usually governed by a different
set of rules and regulations. They received all the facilities given to expat
teachers but were paid living wages only. The volunteer teachers were mostly
retired professors from European countries who were passionate about teaching
and wanted to contribute their mite towards education and development of under
developed countries.
The
best paid were the teachers under the UNDP scheme. They were paid handsome
salary by their country standards but not by most European standards. Most
teachers from Europe and America would not apply. Teachers from other countries
would apply, but their proficiency in English remained poor. The exchange rate
of the dollar against the rupee meant that Indians found teaching in Ethiopia lucrative
and attractive too.
Indians’
proficiency in English and their neutral English accent meant that they found
acceptability as teachers in Ethiopia. The long lasting reputation of Indians
as good teachers in Ethiopia also helped. Ethiopian university experts in
Interview panels always found resonance of their own Indian teachers in the candidates
they were interviewing.
There
was a huge concentration of Indian teachers in excess of 90% of total expatriate
teaching country. Sometimes there were a smattering of Filipino teachers or
rarely Nigerian teachers.
Indians
who came faced shocks of their life. Ethiopia is not like USA. Most get
disillusioned with the slow pace of life, the dusty roads and the lack of
speedy cars and glamour associated with the place of work. The disillusioned teachers
leave quickly, with-in three to six months and it is a process of survival of
fittest.
Then
there are the nay sayers, senior teachers who say what a raw deal that the new
expats received. I remember one senior teacher telling us “You guys were done in;
you should have been taken as Senior Assistant Professors. And you have been
given a raw deal as far as salary is concerned. You should have bargained for
atleast for 50% more salary!!!!”.
End
of the day, Teachers who stayed back get reconciled with the salary and with
the living conditions. They start liking the place and settle in. The contract renewals
are once in two years.
Post
May once the 2nd semester results are declared it is summer
vacation. The concept of summer vacation varies from place to place. Summer vacation
in Ethiopia is from May to September. This is the time when it rains heavily. It
had struck me “Summer vacation is the time when the students can’t go to the
school or college”. In India it is the hot summer and in Ethiopia it is when it
rains heavily. It is almost impossible to move about freely!
Once
the teacher finishes eighteen months of his/her service, he/she starts getting jittery.
He has heard stories of how contracts have not been extended, how the student
feedback only did not only matter. The teacher’s public relations and his
ability to mix with the local community and with the local teachers comes to
the fore.
Teachers
aspiring to get extensions go into overdrive. They start becoming more pally
with their HODs, Assistant Deans and with Deans. Suddenly huge parties are given.
The parties are a dead giveaway – they are like emperor’s clothes, everyone
except the party giver knows the real purpose and the teacher aspiring to get
an extension pretends as if it is a normal thing. Sometimes the charade is
quite pathetic to witness as it unfolds. The desperateness to get an extension
is way too apparent. The young Ethiopian HODs who were fresh out of college had
very little experience in the ways of politicking were quite taken in by the
sudden attention they were getting!
The
teacher concerned has to write a letter to the University’s Vice President (Vice
Chancellor) requesting an extension of contract. On receipt of the extension
request, the department goes into action. The department’s Ethiopian teachers
meet and discuss threadbare and this discussion could take many hours.
All
the time the concerned teacher would on tenterhooks. Sometime later the HOD
would come out and reveal the recommendations of the committee. If it is
positive and if the concerned teacher is getting an extension everything is
honky donky. But the situation of the teachers not getting an extension is
pathetic. They are not told immediately and they come to know about their fate
through innuendo and gossip. By that time, it is usually too late.
The
continued tension of waiting and requesting extensions of contracts takes a
heavy toll. The reactions of the teachers not getting extensions are a study in
contrast. Some take it stolidly and get resigned to their fate. They quietly prepare
to exit the country with pride and honor. The other Indians move in for the
kill. They eagerly enquire if the departing Indian has anything of value – like
desk top computer, mixer grinders, cameras, TVs, dish antennas that he/she might
want to dispose. They are like vultures moving in to feast on the carrion. The
cycle of life goes on.
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It
is the vicious Indian teachers who could not get an extension who vitiate the
atmosphere and create disturbance. They would blame everyone including the
Indian teachers for their fate. They would pass comments “Oh the Ethiopian teachers
are good. It was our own Indian teachers who were jealous. They could not bear my
success. They went and influenced the Ethiopians”.
The
tirade would go on and on, and usually May, June are quite stressful months for
teachers in Bahirdar, Ethiopia. September, October and November are months of intrigue,
surprise and anticipation – the existing teachers breathlessly wait the arrival
of the new set of Indian teachers.
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