SHILLONG, 1 Aug: Thousands of first-semester undergraduate students in Meghalaya are in a fix as teachers of 75 colleges announced a non-cooperation movement against the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) for trying to implement the New Education Policy (NEP)-2020.
All 75 colleges across the state are affiliated to the NEHU.
“We have been informed that classes for first-semester undergraduate courses have been deferred indefinitely due to the NEP-2020 tussle between the authorities and teachers. We hope the matter is resolved at the earliest,” a student of Lady Keane College here told PTI.
She said that, although she had paid the fees and got herself admitted to the BA degree course, the current tug-of-war between teachers and authorities may affect the timeline of other semesters.
The Meghalaya College Teachers’ Association (MCTA) had asked its members to boycott classes from Tuesday, barring third and fifth-semester classes.
MTCA secretary AW Rani came down heavily on the unilateral decision of the NEHU on NEP-2020 and said that the matter was decided without taking all stakeholders into consideration.
“Implementing the NEP without the endorsement of the Academic Council bypasses the crucial process of checks and balances,” Rani said, and added that implementing NEP-2020 without proper improvement of infrastructure in colleges and training of human resource would not be in the best interests of the students, faculty, or the broader academic community.
A notification by the officer on special duty of the College Development Council of the university had on 12 July directed all colleges to implement the NEP from the 2023-’24 academic session (August).
The 110th Academic Council meeting of the university held in May and June had only approved the syllabus of the four-year UG courses for two semesters, an official informed.
NEHU Vice Chancellor Prabha Shankar Shukla had earlier convened a meeting with all affiliated college principals on the implementation of NEP-2020 and assured necessary assistance from the university to all colleges.
Members of the NEP Implementation Committee of the university had also met chief minister and the education minister in the state on the matter. (PTI)