Editor,
Social media posts and news items on local papers together with the ST Polls column in the Shillong Times have shown tremendous public support to the initiative taken by the Jaiaw Pyllun Dorbars to begin night patrolling by members of the Dorbar Shnong complemented by pooling of human resources from the Seng Samla and Seng Longkmie of the respective Shnongs involved. This initiative simply shows the concern that elders of Shnongs and the common citizen have over any threat to the peace and tranquility of their respective areas of jurisdiction. It also amply demonstrates that common people are fed up to their necks over the hooliganism, the delinquency and the misbehavior of local hoodlums who terrorise ordinary citizens by their nefarious criminal activities. Apparently these goons come from family backgrounds that lack parental control and this has necessitated action from the Dorbar and its office bearers to take on this neglected parental responsibility. One must commend the elders of Jaiaw Pyllun for their public minded action.
Now after all’s said and done one must also consider the sustainability of such Dorbar initiatives. Dorbar members are voluntary workers with family and other domestic issues to attend to 24×7. Can such an initiative be sustained? For, please remember that the anti social elements are simply waiting for elder fatigue to set in before they restart their disreputable activities again. Then we come back full circle from where we started! We have to make this initiative of law-abiding citizens work. I have always advocated for Community Policing for I have seen it’s operational success in other similar situations in other parts of the world. How it can work in Shillong will depend entirely on the understanding, conceptualization and implementation of the concept between the Police Department and the Dorbars concerned. For, let us be very clear on one thing. Close cooperation between Dorbars and Police is the greatest threat to the nefarious activities of antisocial elements and the last thing they want to see happen. They will try their level best to thwart and discredit such cooperation because such public collaboration against crime is not in their interest. There will also be emotional say-nay-to -everything elements within the Dorbar who will take the side of the criminals on this call. They will have to be dealt with. Whatever, I simply wish to convey my good wishes to the courageous Dorbars of Jaiaw Pyllun. May your efforts bear the fruit you seek to achieve.
Yours etc.,
Toki Blah,
Via email
Crying Need for a State University
Editor,
This write-up is intended to serve as an awakening call to all the Khasis, Jaintias and Garos of Meghalaya to perceive the imminent threat due to the worsening condition of the education sector in the State. It is extremely unfortunate that all the colleges in the State are bound to be affiliated to North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) whereas the University has literally lost moral and ethical right to affiliate colleges. The University has not been able to deliver anything that it is obligated to do with regards to affiliation of colleges. Of course, there was a pretext – Covid-19 pandemic to cover up its mal-administration. But even after the lockdown ceased, the University has conducted semester exams with perfunctory participation and derisory administration in a very unorganized, irresponsible and messy manner. Questions were supplied by the University but the answer scripts were evaluated by the respective college teachers. The marks are submitted by the colleges to NEHU after which the University declares the results.
What a disgusting lack of concordance and unethical way of conducting the exams. This has resulted in the complete loss of credibility of the exams, and hence the results of the exams manifested aberrance. Many students who with true spirit wished to take part in free and fair competition have been utterly disappointed. The University can neither fix exam dates nor make routines by taking into consideration all possible factors such as sufficient time semesters’ teaching and learning as per binding rule and adaptability to the academic calendar. A person who is unable to communicate in English is now the Vice Chancellor of the University. He is busy organizing non-academic programmes without paying heed to the crying needs of the University. In some of the major departments, only two/three teachers run the show haphazardly and students are at the receiving end. Guest lecturers are appointed semester wise and they are made to teach one month or so with strong instructions from their respective HODs to complete the course within the given time.
The teaching and learning process is not taking place ethically. Moreover, poor guest lecturers remain unpaid for months together even though they come for one and a half months at their own expense. The Examination Department does not check PhD theses, submitted by PhD scholars to check whether they meet the criteria as per UGC guidelines. The University has become a leading one in producing copy and paste PhD degree holders. Another grim reality prevailing in our environment is that there is none among the people in the corridors of power or the ruling dispensation who have the guts to establish a State University. The present day politicians in the State are by and large persons without any firm conviction and vision to do something that is a game changer. Only able and visionary leadership with strong political will can do something that scripts history. But, at present, we cannot see anybody among the ministers, MLA’s and so-called leaders with that robust personality to undertake such a challenge.
States like Manipur have a State-run University as well as a Central University besides many private universities. Assam has several State Universities, two Central Universities and many private universities. It will be extremely dangerous for the State’s education sector to be left to the mercy of a University like NEHU which has become a den of all kinds of nasty politics of people who are stooges of their masters in Delhi. These stooges do not have time to think about developing the University and affiliated colleges. They manage the affairs of the University at their whims and fancies. Although the University was set up specifically to cater to the educational development of the region, I feel that at NEHU is rather harming our educational sector. A society with a degenerating education system has no future.
Yours etc.,
Wanjop U. Laloo,
Via email