IMPASSE OVER IMPLEMENTATION OF NEP 2020
SHILLONG, Aug 16: The Meghalaya College Teachers’ Association (MCTA) will meet on Friday to decide whether or not to boycott the first-semester degree classes.
The MCTA on Tuesday decided to extend its non-cooperation movement till Thursday.
When contacted, MCTA general secretary, Airpeace W. Rani said they are yet to get a response from either the NEHU vice chancellor or the state government.
“As teachers, we have highlighted the difficulties that will crop up if the New Economic Policy is implemented from this academic session.
According to him, as teachers they have highlighted the difficulties which will crop up if the NEP is implemented in this academic session. College principals have said we need to find a solution to the current impasse,” he said.
Earlier, the HYC and NEHUSU had resented the failure of VC Prabha Shankar Shukla to convene a meeting with the stakeholders, especially the leaders of the MCTA to resolve the ongoing stalemate over the implementation of the NEP-2020.
Expressing surprise at the VC retracting his commitment to convene the meeting, HYC president Robertjune Kharjahrin said Prof Shukla told the media that he would convene the meeting before Independence Day.
“During our meeting, he assured us that he would be convening the common meeting as suggested by both the HYC and NEHUSU. It seems the VC does not value his assurance,” Kharjahrin said.
He said the meeting with the MCTA and other stakeholders is important for settling the issue once and for all.
The HYC president said the council’s members would not sit idle if the VC does not respect the teachers’ association and if the ongoing agitation of the MCTA affects the normal functioning of the colleges.
NEHUSU finance secretary, Mandor B. Diengdoh Swer said the union was not surprised when the VC retracted his commitment.
“The VC is well known for not valuing his own words. He is not a man of principle,” Swer had said.
Assault in NEHU hostel condemned
The NEHUSU and A’chik NEHU Students’ Union (ANSU) condemned the “barbaric act” committed during a scuffle in one of the boys’ hostels of the university on the night of August 13. “We declare that no communal issue has arisen,” the two organisations said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
They said that an attempt was being made to communalise the issue, adding that it would undermine the peaceful co-existence and tranquillity on the NEHU campus and the state beyond.
The two student bodies appealed to all the stakeholders and media persons not to aggravate a personal issue and help maintain peace and harmony among the students and in Meghalaya.
An LLM student had a scuffle with an LLB student inside the NEHU campus on Sunday night allegedly over the shifting of hostel rooms.
Police on Monday said that both students filed complaints against each other.
The matter is being looked into, police said.
In an FIR filed at the Mawlai police station, the LLM student claimed he was assaulted by two miscreants who had entered the campus. He claimed that university students have faced verbal threats from goons in the past.