The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) and NEHU Students’ Union have demanded the Vice Chancellor of the North Eastern Hill University Prof PS Shukla to convene the meeting of the Academic Council for discussion on the National Education Policy (NEP).
Addressing media persons, HYC president Robertjune Kharjahrin said, “We have demanded an immediate Academic Council meeting as it is the best authority to decide on the future of the students of Meghalaya as well as students from outside the state. With a lot of experts and people with experience, the Academic Council will give the right opinion on the future of our students.”
He said the NEHU VC has expressed that he needs time to discuss with his colleagues on the academic council meeting.
Kharjahrin alleged that NEHU has decided to implement the NEP without approval of the academic council.
According to him, as per the NEHU norms and ordinances, the Academic Council is an authority, which will take decisions on policy matters.
The HYC leader said that the delegation has also demanded the NEHU VC to immediately call a meeting with the various institutions and teaching community, especially those who are staging an agitation against the hasty decision to implement NEP. He said NEHU should invite the teacher’s bodies, be it Meghalaya College Teachers’ Association (MCTA), which has decided to boycott the first semester classes, or the NEHU Teachers’ Association and others to have a proper discussion.
“He (Shukla) has assured us that he would immediately call all stakeholders to discuss the matter,” he said while adding “We also feel that all principals should also have a say on this matter and importantly this issue need to be discussed in the present of the state government officials as when it comes to funding, NEHU will not be able to fund any money to the colleges, except academic support.”
Meanwhile, the joint delegation also met the state education minister Rakkam A Sangma and sought clarification as to how the state government will help the colleges in as far as NEP implementation is concerned.
He informed that the education minister had assured the delegation that he would soon convene a meeting of the Meghalaya Higher Education Council to discuss the NEP implementation as to whether it needs to be deferred to next year.
Kharjahrin said this issue has arisen time and again because Meghalaya till date does not have a State University. The Captain Williamson Sangma State University is yet to come up.
“Therefore, we demand that it is high time for Meghalaya to have one State University in Shillong.
Whether the government will build a new university or will just upgrade one of the colleges in Shillong as a university where most of the colleges can be affiliated,” he said.