SHILLONG, July 23: The KSU has opposed the move of NEHU Vice Chancellor, Prof Prabha Shankar Shukla to go ahead with the implementation of the National Education Policy 2020 without the approval of the academic council.
“The approval of the academic council is a must for implementing any new system in the university. It would mean that the VC has violated the statute of the university if he goes ahead with the NEP,” KSU assistant education secretary, Riches Malngiang told The Shillong Times on Sunday.
According to him, there was no decision by the academic council to immediately implement the NEP.
“The academic council had only discussed the ordinance and new curriculum framework of the university. We have decided to raise objections to this move since they are not in agreement,” Malngiang, who is also the president of the KSU NEHU unit, said.
The KSU leader said the VC only wants to show that the university has the capacity to implement NEP without weighing the pros and cons.
“How is the university going to implement NEP when they are yet to carry out a preparatory stage to familiarise the colleges on the different aspects of the policy,” Malngiang said while adding that even the state government has failed to assess if all the colleges are ready to implement NEP.
“It appears that the government is pushing for implementation of NEP without understanding the ground reality,” the KSU leader said, pointing out that most of the colleges in the state lack infrastructural wherewithal to implement NEP.
“The implementation of NEP will require the use of some form of technology as per the new pattern. If we look at the first semester there is a combination of papers like ability enhancement course and skill enhancement course,” he reasoned.
He stated that colleges in the rural areas, which run only a single stream, will face major problems since there are subjects which are interconnected.
Stating that the state is still in a transitory stage, Malngiang said NEHU retained the eight core papers and did not follow the 14 core paper curriculum when it decided to shift the UG courses from yearly to a semester system as per the UGC norms.
“Now we will have to adopt 15 core papers. This is going to be very difficult if we look at the faculty strength of the colleges. The affiliated colleges have the faculty strength for eight core papers and 14,” Malngiang said.
According to him, the university should have introduced the interdisciplinary foundational course.
“Now, to immediately ask the colleges to implement the multi-disciplinary course is going to be difficult. There is no training programme for the teachers on how to teach on the new subjects which will fall under the skill announcement course. How are they going to teach the students?” he questioned.
Even the Voice of the People Party expressed concerns on the controversy surrounding the implementation of NEP in colleges affiliated under NEHU.
VPP vice president, Kara H. Chen requested the NEHU Vice Chancellor or other authorities to come out with a clarification on the allegations made by the Meghalaya College Teachers’ Association and the North Eastern Hill University Students’ Union that the academic council was yet to approve implementation of NEP.
Chen said the party is of the opinion that NEHU should implement NEP only after thorough consultations with all the stakeholders after following the due procedures.
“Any attempt to implement the NEP 2020 through undemocratic, dictatorial and arm-twisting methods is unacceptable and should be resisted. The Vice Chancellor should be prudent enough to realise that though he is heading a central university, he has to also look into the constraints faced by the state’s colleges,” the VPP leader said.
Chen said the VC should maintain a balance between the central government’s requirements and the ground realities in the state.
He also pointed out that NEHU has never provided financial aid to the affiliated colleges for development.
Chen observed that the promise made by the office of the Vice Chancellor to extend all possible help to colleges for implementation of NEP is hollow and meaningless.
The VPP leader also expressed disappointment with the MDA Government while recalling that in September 2020, i.e., immediately after the Union Cabinet had adopted the NEP, Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma had declared that Meghalaya would be the first state to implement the policy.
“Beyond the thoughtless declaration, the CM did nothing in terms of preparation to implement the policy, especially at the higher education level. It is rather humiliating when NEHU notified that all undergraduate admission in colleges in Meghalaya had to be done through the CUET to be conducted by the National Testing Agency, the state government had to rush in requesting the Centre to exempt the state from the test,” Chen said.
He further stated that students of Meghalaya have to sacrifice their dreams of pursuing post-graduation studies given the inadequate availability of testing centres in the state.
“Therefore, we would like to advise the CM to speak less but think and act more,” he said.
The VPP leader also recalled that Education Minister, Rakkam A. Sangma had stated on June 1 that Meghalaya was not ready to implement the NEP 2020 in colleges from the academic session 2023-24.
“What made Meghalaya implement the NEP less than two months after the minister’s statement? What steps has the state government taken since June 1 to make the colleges prepared to implement the policy?” he questioned.
Chen also questioned whether the state government is aware that NEP, if implemented without care being taken, would push many out of higher education given the fact that Meghalaya is the second-poorest state in India?
“The silence of the state government on the unilateral action taken by the NEHU Vice Chancellor on the implementation of the NEP baffles everyone. What makes the state government subservient to the dictation of NEHU? The people of the state urgently need clarification from the CM or his Education Minister on these queries,” he said.
Further, the VPP president stated that the Education Minister seems to be clueless as far as his department is concerned.
“The CM should seriously consider replacing him with a better and more capable minister. The future of our children cannot be entrusted to someone who has exhibited the quality of being administratively inefficient,” he added.
