Shillong, July 08: The MeTTA-NEHU and NEHUTA express their deep concern at the inordinate and inexplicable delay in appointment of a suitable selected candidate as new Vice-Chancellor of NEHU, which is in the process for at least last few months back.
The two organization understand from media reports that the search cum selection committee for appointment of Vice-Chancellor has completed its job since long and the file is stuck at some administrative level without the new incumbent being announced at the right earnest.
The organsation reiterate that in the absence of a new Vice-Chancellor, the progress of the university is practically stalled, as NEHU suffers from serious administrative, academic and financial lapses over last five years that brought down the status and the rank of the University alleged the two organsation.
Given such an unwarranted slide of NEHU, the earliest central university for the North-Eastern region, the cause of higher education and specialized and professional training of talents from the region and the state of Meghalaya is stunted, as the institutional frame has wilted during the tenure of Prof. S.K.Srivastava.
It was highly expected of the Ministry of Education of the Govt. of India to complete the statutory procedure of appointment of a new VC, as the process is completed by the search cum selection committee long back.
Now that the new Education Minister Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan has taken charge, it is incumbent upon his good office to appoint a new VC for NEHU, as the last step at the end of the process of search cum selection.
The panel is with the Ministry and it is of utmost necessity that the Ministry appoints the right candidate with specific necessary qualification that is needed to lead the University from its present state of freefall.
The orgasation again reiterate that NEHU needs a Vice-Chancellor who is familiar with specific ethno-cultural and linguistic background of the state of Meghalaya and the Northeastern region, so that the appropriately qualified candidate is able to correct the course of NEHU, to which it has deviated, leaving the right course of progress and development.
The organisation said that NEHU needs a qualified Vice-Chancellor from the local community who is grounded in the specific reality of the University and its cultural context so that students coming from myriad ethnic, tribal and non-ethnic background of Northeastern region and other parts of the country can be given due care and attention for the bright future, which requires a direct connect.
In all likelihood, any academician coming from outside the region and removed from local cultural context shall not be able to establish the much needed connect with students and the larger academic fraternity.
Therefore, keeping in mind the unique matrilineal ethos of Meghalaya and the need for a healing touch to NEHU after nearly six years of not such an uplifting experience, we request the Union Government and the newly appointed Minister of Education to kindly consider the case of a tribal woman Professor.
The organization said that the tribal who figures in the consideration of search cum selection committee so that NEHU gets a VC who can not only lead but can bring in a healing effect to the mismanaged affairs of the University and can take it to the path of progress and all round development.
Particularly we would remind the Union Government of its commitment towards NEHU objective of social, cultural, scientific and economic development of the tribal people of the Northeast and Meghalaya.
The organsation calls for appointment of an acceptable, qualified and reasonably academically endowed person as VC, who can also strike the much needed gender balance in a predominantly matrilineal social context that provides the catchment for students and researchers in NEHU.
We, therefore, demand immediate appointment of qualified local tribal woman professor as VC of NEHU, without any further delay, in the best interest of the university and the society.
The demand is raised considering the all round positive impact of such an appointment, purely from the academic interest and the interest of future of NEHU, said the president and the secretary of the two organsation Prof. Xavier P Mao president, Dr. Marbhador M Khymdeit general secretary of NEHUTA, Dr Lakhon Kma President, and Mr Davidson Pyngrope general secretary of MeTTA.
