Gert Regterschot has been tutoring at Eindhoven University of Technology for 27 years. Not in a room, but under a staircase. He doesn’t get a salary. He was fired in 1995, but Gert disagrees. He continues to teach, despite the fact that he now has to bite the bullet. One of his students has therefore started a donation campaign. Within a few days, more than 13,000 euros have already been collected.
The story appeared in the NRC on Friday and on the university news site Cursor. Every weekday morning, Gert tutors students in more than thirty science subjects. He says he helps 700 students every year. And he is adored by them. Thanks to him, they boost their grades and pass with flying colours.
Dismissal
Gert (64) started at TU Delft in the late 1980s as a lecturer in technical business administration. Over time, tensions arose. Gert would not work well with colleagues and publish too few studies. He was fired. But the Eindhoven resident did not leave it at that. He went to court twice. He didn’t agree with him, but he still persists. Gert thinks he is still a lecturer at the university.
According to the TU, the extra lessons have never been difficult. But the situation changed when Gert started telling more and more students and teachers that he is an employee who has not been paid for years. He would cause a nuisance and that is why the university forbade him to teach in the classrooms. “He remains welcome on the campus itself,” can be read in a statement on the TU website.
Living off savings and deposits
Since then, Gert has been teaching at a round table under the stairs of a student flat. He does that forty hours a week. He does not receive social assistance benefits and his savings have now run out. He lives on twelve euros a week and takes bottles out of the trash for a deposit.
One of the students who has benefited greatly from his help is Sumya Mobder. She started one donation action and it turned out to be a huge success. The counter continues to increase every hour and more than 13,000 euros have already been collected. Gert doesn’t know what hit him, he tells Monday Cursor. “There have been so many positive reactions to it and then also the donation campaign that has already been supported by so many people with an amount. I am very surprised.”