Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Fearing exodus of teachers after resignation of senior director Yogeshwari Phatak, Prestige Group of Institutes chairman Davish Jain on Friday held a meeting with teaching and non-teaching staff, who are losing trust on the institute’s management, and tried to strike a chord with them.
He told them that he would do whatever it takes to convince Phatak to take the resignation back.
“She is going abroad for some time. When she will return, I will try to convince her to withdraw her resignation,” he said addressing the teachers.
The teachers, however, seemed convinced as they had already read Phatak’s new Whatsapp tagline.
“Alone her hands can change time’s dragon base,” her Whatsapp tagline reads.
Phatak picked up this line from a famous poem, Savitri penned by Indian philosopher and poet Sri Aurobindo.
There was a pall of gloom on the campus of Prestige Institute of Management & Research (PIMR) when they on Friday morning read in Free Press that Phatak, who was associated with the institute for the past 27 years, had called it quits.
PIMR management had not shared this information with employees till 12.30 pm on Friday.
Jain had convened a Friday meeting of teachers and senior staff citing a development in light of the recent decision of the senior director.
In the meeting, Jain said that he tried to convince Phatak to withdraw her resignation but to no avail. “I will try again once she returns from abroad,” he said.
But his statement was taken by teachers as an attempt to lock the stable door after the horse had bolted.
“Jain did not try to fix the things when they were going wrong. It’s too late now. She won’t return to the institute no matter what,” a teacher wishing anonymity said.
Another teacher said that they have lost faith in the institute management which posed a blind eye to deteriorating circumstances. “The situation has reached such a point that a person associated with the institute for the last 27 years had to leave,” he added.
CEO Vajpayee skips ‘emergency’ meeting
Prestige Group of Institutes CEO Anil Vajpayee, who is blamed for the present crisis in the institute, did not attend the “emergency” meeting convened by Jain on Friday. He was reportedly suggested by Jain to skip the meeting. The crisis had started unfolding in PIMR in 2019 when it geared up to become a university and Vajpayee was appointed as CEO of Prestige Group of Institutes. Groups among teachers formed and those having proximity to Vajpayee had started getting rid of their “competitors”.
