SHILLONG:
Contrary to the claims of North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) Vice-Chancellor, Prabha Shankar Shukla, the Meghalaya College Teachers Association (MCTA) has said that the colleges in the state are yet to give their consent for the implementation of the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020).
The MCTA said on Friday that there was no decision to implement the NEP 2020 during the meeting of the Academic Council of the university.
The teachers’ association said that at the meeting most felt that the NEP should not be implemented for the time being.
The association said that the decision to implement the NEP is being taken without proper planning.
The MCTA asked the NEHU vice-chancellor to prove that the decision to implement the NEP 2020 was taken at the Academic Council meeting of the university.
MCTA president B H Biam expressed concern over the imposition of the NEP 2020 which, according to her, was sudden and unexpected.
“This was after almost all the stakeholders pointed out the lack of preparedness,” Biam told reporters here.
She clarified that the MCTA is indeed a major stakeholder in the matter, representing the teacher community and playing a crucial role in academic matters concerning higher education.
The genesis of the concern arose from a notification received on July 12 addressed to all principals of affiliated colleges, which stated that the university would implement the NEP 2020 in the four-year undergraduate programme starting from the ensuing academic session of 2023-2024.
According to her, as per the notification this decision was taken during the 110 Academic Council of the NEHU, which has now created chaos.
Biam said that many colleges have started their session for the new academic year under the old programme.
“We (MCTA) are taking it as a concern because we have the teachers representatives to the Academic Council and in this very meeting, the (MCTA) representatives when they saw the notification they expressed that there was something very wrong with the process of the decision making,” she said.
The MCTA president said that the Academic Council over the years has established itself as an esteemed body when it comes to the academic matters concerning higher education.
The MCTA questioned the legitimacy of the decision to implement the NEP 2020.
She made it clear that the representatives of the MCTA who were present in the Academic Council of the university stated that there was no decision taken then to implement the NEP 2020.
Biam said that it was the bounden duty of the MCTA to communicate this matter to the teaching fraternity, parents, students, and the general public.