SHILLONG, Jan 24: The Meghalaya government on Friday clarified that it is not pressuring colleges in the state to be affiliated with the Captain Williamson Sangma State University.
Education Minister Rakkam A Sangma said affiliation with the state university is a matter of choice. “I don’t know how this has come up. The government has clearly said the question of force does not arise. It is the choice of the institutions and the colleges of the state. The whole idea of coming up with a state university is for the convenience of the students,” he said.
There have been reports that the MDA 2.0 government has been going all out to promote the Captain Williamson Sangma State University and exerting pressure on the colleges for affiliation.
Pointing out that central universities have to go by the central norms and guidelines, the education minister recalled how the state government had to seek exemptions during the CUET.
“We decided to have a state-run university to ensure such problems do not arise in the future,” he said while referring to Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma’s assurance that affiliation would not be forced upon any institution.
“To affiliate or not it is for the institutions to take a call and we have written to all the colleges to discuss this and decide,” the education minister said.
Asked how many colleges have affiliated so far, he said the process has just started.
He said the government is considering the old NIT campus and other spaces to set up the Shillong campus of the university temporarily. “The department has written to the state government for the allotment of land for the permanent campus,” he added.
