By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Oct 11: Defying the mounting clamour for a meeting of the NEHU Academic Council (AC), Vice Chancellor Prabha Shankar Shukla has convened a “regular meeting” of the AC on October 31.
Members of the AC had requisitioned a special/emergency meeting in order to directly address the hurried and unsuitable implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 at the under-graduate (UG) level in all affiliated colleges from the session 2023–24 without its permission.
With the deadline given to the VC to convene the special/emergency meeting of the AC ending on Monday, NEHUTA has now decided to intensify its agitation.
NEHUTA will start with a rally/dharna on the university premises at 3 pm on Thursday.
The protest will begin with a gathering in front of the university library, and then there will be a nonviolent march towards the VC’s office, where a dharna will be organised.
Meanwhile, NEHUTA president Lakhon Kma responded to the announcement of a regular meeting by calling it an insult to the AC members.
He made notice of the fact that, in accordance with Regulation RA-5, Clause 13, under Clauses (1) (a) and (2) of Statute 42, they had called an extraordinary/emergency meeting of the Academic Council to discuss the inappropriate implementation of the NEP 2020 at the UG level in the affiliated colleges of NEHU without the approval of the Academic Council.
“We had also communicated to the VC that our focus is not on rolling back the NEP, but rather on fixing the procedural errors in order to proceed for the benefit of the UG students,” Kma stated.
“We are not bothered about this regular AC since the VC has the power to convene it at any point in time,” Kma stated, accusing the VC of engaging in political gaming.
Since ending the current impasse should have been the VC’s first priority, his action shows a lack of care for the students’ future, Kma said.
“Given that the first semester exams are scheduled for November, what is the purpose of calling this regular AC meeting?” he asked.
Kma noted that for roughly two and a half months, the Meghalaya College Teachers’ Association (MCTA) had been boycotting all first-semester sessions in protest of the hurried and illegal implementation of NEP.
“However, the VC is still adamant,” he stated.
Kma brought out the fact that for the first semester, neither setting nor moderating question papers has been done by NEHUTA members. “According to the NEHU Ordinance, the AC must decide on the model question papers under NEP for UG in order to ensure consistency in the question paper setting pattern for all disciplines. It cannot be moderated if there are no example question papers available for teachers to use to create the questions. Not even the MCTA is involved in creating or regulating the exam questions,” he said.
The NEHUTA president also warned the VC of further trouble and hinted that they will “expose all his wrongdoings”. “The agitation on Thursday is only the beginning. We will intensify our agitation further since the VC has ignored suggestions made by a majority of the members of the AC,” Kma added.