Shillong, May 22: The North-Eastern Hill University Teachers’ Association (NEHUTA) has welcomed the advertisement issued by the Ministry of Education for the appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor for North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), while also expressing concern over the university’s preparedness to implement the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) under the National Education Policy framework.
The Ministry of Education had issued the advertisement on May 20 for the appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor to replace incumbent VC Prof. Prabha Shankar Shukla, whose tenure is scheduled to end on July 26.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, NEHUTA president Prof. Lakhon Kma said the advertisement was long overdue and thanked the Ministry of Education, the Governor, the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary for taking the matter seriously. He expressed hope that the appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor would help restore normalcy in the university, improve the academic atmosphere and address the growing financial challenges faced by NEHU.
Prof. Kma further stated that the next Vice-Chancellor should possess strong academic and administrative credentials and work in close coordination with students, teachers and non-teaching staff for the overall development of the university. While refraining from commenting on whether the next Vice-Chancellor should be local or non-local, he maintained that the university requires a capable and committed leader who can rebuild and transform NEHU.
At the same time, NEHUTA also raised concern over the university’s readiness to smoothly implement the FYUP and the proposed one-year master’s degree programme. According to Prof. Kma, students opting for the fourth year under FYUP are currently facing uncertainty as several academic and infrastructure-related arrangements are yet to be finalised by the university. He advised students to carefully evaluate their academic choices and said the existing two-year master’s degree programme currently remains the safer and clearer option.
The NEHUTA president also recalled that both NEHUTA and the Meghalaya College Teachers’ Association (MCTA) had opposed what they described as the hurried implementation of the National Education Policy when the university and the state government initially moved towards its rollout. He said the associations had earlier warned that the university was not adequately prepared in terms of infrastructure, curriculum planning and academic arrangements. Despite the concerns, Prof. Kma said NEHUTA and university teachers would continue working to ensure that the academic future of students is not adversely affected.
