Shillong, November 10: The North-Eastern Hill University responding to the demands of the protesting group at the University has clarified on the charter of demands and issues raised by the groups. The Vice Chancellor stated that “he has clarified the position on the appointment of Mr Rohit Prasad during the press conference held last week”.
He futher added that “As far as the appointment of Statutory Officers and University Engineer are concerned, the interview for the posts have been slotted for 20th and 22nd November 2022 and the preparation for the same is ongoing.
”While speaking about the other demands of the JAC, the Vice-Chancellor added “concerning the university Health centre, committee has taken appropriate steps and the required purchases have been started from the portal as per the mandate of Government of India, the approval to which accorded on 1st November itself.
For the purchases and procurements in different academic departments and sections of the university, GeM portal is adopted and three trainings-cum-exposure sessions have already been conducted to sensitize the staff on the purchases through GeM.
The university have listed and registered more than 50 secondary users and more are in the process with a statutory officer of the university registered a primary user in the GeM Portal.
Regarding the demand on the relieving of the teaching and technical staff from ministerial duties the Vice-Chancellor stated that “the Teaching staffs performing additional duty in the administration is for smooth transaction of routine work of the university so that university functioning doesnot get delayed and the teachers will be automatically relieved once the posts are filled up for which the requisite advertisement and recruitment process is ongoing.
Also, that the teaching faculty with their consent only are requested to undertake additional responsibilities and the university is grateful to them for their cooperation in helping with the administrative work”. As far as the Non-teaching staff given additional responsibility in the administration are concerned, they have been executing their responsibilities even befor his joinng he added.
“As far as the statutes and Acts matters are concerned, the same are available in the university webpage in the section about the university and making issues out of non-issues can only tarnish the image of the university and concerned are appealed to verify the facts before declaring them as protest agenda” the NEHU administration said.
The administration would like to mention that the University Convocation is a routine work for which the consent and schedule of the Chief Guest and Chancellor are important and the required correspondences have been made since the beginning of the year to get the dates finalised for which the Ministry is yet to confirm.
Furthermore, the Marking System in the university examinations is a policy decision adopted as per the NEP 2020 regulations and any amendments required thereon has to be placed in the Academic Council.
The Vice-Chancellor also clarified on other demands stating that “The University teachers are the main stakeholders of the Academic Council where the discussion on issues related to Marking System, Inclusion of Elected Members of Students as representatives in the Academic Council, Admission process along with weightages given in admission are discussed and policy decisions are taken as deemed fit and beneficial for all concerned”.
He further exhorted that “The university during the current period is in the peak of academic activities with syllabus coverage and examinations scheduled during the first part of December and disruptions in the form of indefinite strikes and protest without verifying the facts will hamper these activities affecting the academic atmosphere of the university.
The University appeals to the concerned to come across the table, discuss and verify on the status of the points raised and the steps taken by the university rather than going out and protesting without updating on the same as the protesting groups are also part of the university and are aware of the progress and steps taken by the university on the charter of demands.
This will help the university to function normally and deliver our tasks which is for the academic and overall benefit of our students in general having amicably sorted out the issues concerning the implementation of NEP 2020. Any disruptions at this time of the academic year will disturb not only the timely completion of syllabus but also the smooth conduct of examinations which concerns the students community for which the university is primarily established for”.
