Editor
It seems that in most of the situations, NEHU ends up being in the news for the wrong reasons; most recently being the CUET fiasco followed by the degree exams for the final semester students. Another issue which NEHU has been sweeping under the carpet for the last two years is the affiliation of departments under colleges affiliated to NEHU.
When an affiliated college seeks affiliation for a subject / course of study, NEHU performs an inspection of the resources and one important criterion is the qualification of staff teaching the subject. Following the inspection, a leading college of the state was granted permanent affiliation for BCA course in 2017, while it was still functioning under the Computer Science department. For the purpose of getting affiliated, the teachers serving in the Department of Computer Science and having UGC norms were shown to be lecturers of BCA course.
Once permanent affiliation was obtained, the college authorities in February 2020 separated BCA from the Computer Science department and gave it a status of an independent department. Thereafter, two unqualified teachers who were not NET-qualified became part of the BCA department. This appointment was a clear violation of NEHU Ordinance OB-6, Regulation RB-2, since these teachers did not fulfill UGC norms. On top of it, one of these unqualified teachers was subsequently appointed as Head of Department of BCA! What is very surprising is that there are a number of candidates of our state who have the qualification and are NET-qualified but apparently the college management prefers to stay ignorant.
This matter was brought to the notice of the CDC, NEHU through an RTI and in response the CDC has admitted that there is a violation of NEHU Ordinance OB-6, Regulation RB-2. The Executive Council of NEHU has the power to withdraw permission or any affiliation from a college/institution at any time if it fails to comply with the Rules, Regulations, Statutes, Ordinances or any other directives of the university. Since now it has been established that there was a violation of NEHU Ordinance, it is surprising that the CDC / Executive Council have kept quiet for reasons best known to them! The matter had been brought to the notice of the VC, NEHU but there has been no action as yet.
It is time for NEHU and the Meghalaya Education department to take cognisance of this matter and institute an inquiry.
James Lyngdoh