SHILLONG: There seems to be no resolution at sight to the ongoing stalemate between the Meghalaya College Teachers Association (MCTA) and the Vice Chancellor of North Eastern Hill University (NEHU).
After a long meeting with VC of NEHU on Monday in Shillong, the college-teachers’ association told the press that they will continuing boycotting the first semester classes and assignments as protest against the implementation of the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) under the NEP 2020.
One of their primary demands is the withdrawal of the July 12 notification for “illegitimate” implementation of NEP in all colleges affiliated to NEHU.
“We spent around 3 hours discussing the NEP issue. The focal point of the meeting was that the university should withdraw the July 12 notification. We were informed that it will be taken up for discussion in the next academic council meeting; sometime in October or November,” general secretary of MCTA, AW Rani said.
Rai further informed that the VC has declined to withdraw the notification saying that since majority of the colleges have already begun their curriculum, a sudden withdrawal of the notification will affect the examinations.
Informing about the meeting, Rai said that discussions revolved around two aspects of the NEP – the challenges and technical part of its implementation. “We told the vice chancellor that the notification has a technical flaw, and it has not been presented to the academic council for discussions” he said.
The second part of the discussion, Rai added, “Revolved around the challenges and consequences linked to the implementation of the NEP. These challenges include issues related to infrastructure, faculty, teacher training, potential fee structure adjustments, and other factors that the university needs to address before proceeding with the NEP.”
Despite the set deadline by the University Grants Commission (UGC), at least 22 out of the 75 colleges affiliated with NEHU have not yet transitioned to the Four-year undergraduate course under NEP 2020. The MCTA have been actively boycotting the first semester classes and assignments as protest.
