Guwahati, July 10: The Assam higher education department has issued an advisory to the teaching and non-teaching staff of all provincialised, government and PDUAM (Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Adarsha Mahavidyalaya) colleges of the state for bringing vibrancy to the collegiate system and implementing the National Education Policy (NEP-2020) in letter and spirit.
The advisory clearly defines the duties, responsibilities and schedules in accordance with NEP and UGC norms.
“The working hours of all provincialised, government and PDUAM colleges of the state has been pre-poned to 9am from the existing 10am so that the overall working period becomes 9am to 5pm. The tiffin/lunch hour is scheduled from 1pm to 2pm,” the advisory read.
“The attendance of the faculty members should be regularly ensured through technical intervention as mentioned in the college service rules. But some flexibility should be provided so that the faculty members can visit the libraries and attend assigned activities within and outside the campus,” it stated.
The advisory further stated that the stipulated contact hours in teaching and other defined activities should be carried out in letter and spirit.
“The teachers should be assigned library hours for the students and research scholars, which will help activate the departmental libraries,” it read.
“Interactive research hours for faculty members should be a total of four hours on two weekdays,” it stated.
“Examination, both internal as well as external, should be taken seriously. There should be a definite model for conducting internal examinations and returning evaluated scripts within a stipulated time-frame. The evaluation of the scripts of the external examinations and declaration of results should be completed in time. Defaulters need to be made accountable,” the advisory read.
Assam education minister Ranoj Pegu, while taking to Twitter to inform about the advisory, stated: “NEP suggests measures for motivated, energised and capable faculty members in higher education institutes. The Assam higher education department has issued an advisory to all universities and colleges for duties and responsibilities as per the NEP and UGC norms and guidelines.”