SHILLONG, July 7: Meghalaya’s ambitious transition to the National Education Policy (NEP) framework is staring at a manpower crisis, as the state’s college teachers warned the government on Tuesday that chronic vacancies and stalled promotions are crippling higher education.
A delegation from the Meghalaya College Teachers Association (MCTA), led by president Shiv K Pradhan, met Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui to demand a time-bound recruitment drive to fill critical gaps in deficit colleges.
Data compiled by the association from 10 member colleges reveals that 41 sanctioned teaching posts remain vacant. The MCTA warned that these vacancies are stalling academic departments at a time when the new Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUGP) requires an increase, not a decrease, in faculty strength. Under the revised North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) framework, the fourth year of undergraduate studies necessitates additional posts that have yet to be created or filled.
The crisis is compounded by a bottleneck in faculty career progression. More than 70 teachers across deficit colleges have been denied promotions under the Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) despite meeting all UGC eligibility criteria. Furthermore, 69 teachers remain stuck on the State Scale of pay despite opting for the UGC Scale, while another 25 are still awaiting scale upgrades.
“The vacancies have placed an increasing burden on existing faculty and will adversely impact teaching quality and student support services,” the MCTA stated in a memorandum.
The association also pressed for the release of pending Dearness Allowance (DA) instalments, noting that arrears linked to revisions from 53% up to 60% remain outstanding.
The MCTA maintained that the government must immediately fill sanctioned posts and review faculty requirements under the FYUGP framework. Without resolving these service matters and addressing the pay disparity, the association warned that institutional capacity will continue to erode, undermining the state’s ability to implement national education reforms.
