By Our Reporter
Shillong, Dec 9: Rajya Sabha MP Wanwei Roy Kharlukhi on Tuesday tore into the “hasty and unplanned” implementation of the National Education Policy 2020 in Meghalaya, warning that the sudden shift has thrown academic sessions into disarray.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour in Parliament, Kharlukhi said although NEP is progressive, its rollout since July 2023 has overburdened colleges and students alike.
He highlighted that syllabi for the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) were framed without proper planning or expert input.
Clear eligibility criteria are missing for teachers assigned to handle Multidisciplinary Courses (MDCs), Skill Enhancement Courses (SECs) and Vocational Training Courses (VTCs), he said.
Colleges are reeling under acute fund shortages, lacking new laboratories, classrooms, libraries, digital infrastructure and additional faculty required for interdisciplinary subjects. Many institutions are unable to simultaneously run the three-year Multidisciplinary Programme alongside FYUP, he pointed out.
Kharlukhi demanded immediate central intervention to constitute panels of qualified experts to draft and review syllabi, fix eligibility norms for teachers handling new courses, and release adequate grants for infrastructure and staff.
He also demanded that colleges unable to run both FYUP and MDP should be allowed to opt out.
The MP stressed that unless these corrective steps are taken urgently, the quality of higher education and research in Meghalaya will suffer irreparable damage.
