By Benjamin Lyngdoh
The NEHU logo says ‘rise up and build’. Anyone looking at it would conclude that the logo shows a rising sun. On the flip side, it can also be pictured as a setting sun. It is a matter of perspective. Contemporarily there is this sickening feeling of a setting sun. This writer has seen four full-time Vice-Chancellors at the University and every one of them has had to face varying degrees of protest and agitation from the students, teachers and non-teaching staff. It also marks a decline in NEHU’s ranking from top 20 in the year 2010 to currently in the bracket of 101-150. Where does the problem lie and can the stakeholders do something about it?
A misalignment of arms
For any educational organization to function effectively a number of components need to supplement one another. These arms are in the form of the management, the core processes and the support systems. The management is the Office of the Vice-Chancellor which possesses authority and responsibility to run the University. The core are the teachers and students in terms of what they do in the teaching-learning process, in practice, research and extension. The support systems comprise of the office staff at all levels from the top to the very bottom. The most important arms are the teachers and students as no management can effectively function without carrying them along. NEHU today suffers from two basic problems – power distance and trust deficit. These problems results in a misalignment of arms. There has been a distance between the management and the teachers and students of the University for some time now and the current agitation is an outcome of this power distance. Dialogue also seems difficult as there is a trust deficit between both arms. When both sides are unwilling to budge, the only solution lies on the wise judgment of the Hon’ble President of India and the Ministry of Education, GOI. While the agitation is localized but the solution will only come from the Central Government. The earlier the solution, the better as the health of the students who are undergoing hunger strike is worsening by the day. The NEHU agitation also needs a more proactive involvement of the State Government which to date has been lukewarm and a mere spectator.
Non-teaching staff issues
The NEHU soft infrastructure is crumbling from within. Many office sections in the University are understaffed. Some busy and critical office sections have only two or three employees. This is hampering the smooth functioning of the University. The non-teaching staff are an integral part of the University as they are the key support systems. For instance, the university will stop functioning if the transport department and the cleaners stop working. This is the reason why the support systems are considered as a crucial part of any educational organization. We need to realize that without them the management, teachers and students are handicapped. Yet, the attention given to them at NEHU is abysmal. The majority are contractual and daily wage workers, ad-hoc, etc. Some of them have served NEHU for years together but without regularization of their services. It has been more than a year since the regular non-teaching posts of the University have been advertised and as a result many have applied. But, there is no sign of any effort to hold even the written test. It is stuck in bureaucracy and red-tape. It is to be factored here that a University is an education hub from top to bottom and not a government office. NEHU needs to start functioning as such again. Red-tape and delays are killing the University from within and causing a lot of inefficiency in its functioning.
Society perception
NEHU exists for the society and both are in need of one another. Many senior professors of the past who have now retired used to speak at length on the very humble beginnings of the University and how it has scaled challenges and all types of highs and lows to reach its respectable position in the 2010s. In the experience of this writer those were the best of times at the University. Society looked up to NEHU and the University did deliver back to the society. This delivery was across verticals from graduates to scholars to future teachers to all types of employment to liaison with the colleges, etc. On many occasions the State Government looked up to NEHU to offer solutions to societal and even governance problems and the University was also functioning as a consultant in many areas. Those golden days are gone. Today any academic-research engagement with the government/society is mostly done at an individual teacher level. But, this is not how things should be. Society should see the university and its contributions in a holistic manner and not just individual teachers. For this to happen, the three arms of NEHU must all function together in tandem again. NEHU has hit its nadir. But, the best thing about hitting the nadir is that from there the only way is up. NEHU needs to rise up again!
Legacy of NEHU
Recently a colleague from Mizoram narrated a heartfelt account on how NEHU has been a blessing for her state. She explained how most of the senior/retired officers and leaders of Mizoram were all having one degree/qualification or the other from NEHU and how the current state of affairs of the University is also a cause of concern and distress in Mizoram. If this narration can be taken as a prototype, then this is true for all the states of north-east India. This is the lasting legacy of NEHU which will be remembered through the ages. The problem is the state of affairs of recent years. When the current generation looks at NEHU they do not see any ray of hope where the University can play a transformative role in society. NEHU has become more of a transactional University where teachers and the administration just get on with the routine affairs of the day and close up only to return the next morning. If this continues and there is no transformation in its functioning then NEHU would not be able to create any lasting legacy any more into the future. These are really sad days for the university and it is even sadder that the students have to resort to a protest like a hunger strike to just make their voices heard.
In the end, NEHU needs to become an inclusive educational organization again. The principle of ‘if the matter concerns all, then it has to be decided by consulting all’ needs to be revived. Any policy, decision, strategy, etc concerning its functioning must take the entire university community into confidence. This will help in stemming the recent history of agitations that has been happening at the University. Everyone needs to remember that the organization is bigger than the individual. With this realization, NEHU needs to rise up again and build!
(The writer teaches at NEHU; email – [email protected])