‘To sit back mute, is suicidal’

Dimapur, September 4 (MExN): Nagaland University teachers today sought to challenge all in concern, that it is about time to reason and question on the very compelling reasons ‘why’ the teachers have been constantly led into sustained agitations for decades now. The teachers alluded to certain sections considering  the teachers  to be a “nuisance”.
NUTA acknowledged that the teacher’s role is to instruct, inculcate discipline, instill good sense and mould the personalities of the students. “The teachers of Nagaland University have an obligation and duty to ensure that as professionals we fulfill the academic requirements. Our moral responsibility is to groom our students as worthy citizens. Our job is to make sure that our students achieve their academic goals and help them overcome whatever hurdles they meet on the way” it stated. However, the NUTA explained, it is about time the “why” of the entire matter be broached now.   “…the question that will surely spring to everyone’s mind is ‘then what are the Nagaland University teachers doing, going for academic closure in all campuses?’ Pertinent question. As parents and as concerned citizens everyone has a right to question the action of the teachers. But how many have asked ‘why’? Why is it that the teachers have consistently been at loggerheads with the university Vice Chancellors and key officials for more than a decade? Why would such a sustained effort be carried out? Something is obviously very wrong otherwise the movement would have died out long ago instead of getting intensified as it is now” NUTA explained today in a statement.
The teachers took to reiterating the nature of functioning in the university that the teachers work under: “It may be relevant to explain the functioning of the university so that a better understanding may be arrived at. All academic-related works as well as opening of new departments, schools, and institutes are first endorsed in the departmental meetings, then in the Board of Post Graduate Studies (BPGS) where external experts from various universities are invited for thorough deliberations. After this exercise only, the matter is taken up to the School Board in the respective campuses comprising of deans, heads of departments and representatives of all departments and campuses along with external experts from various universities where everything is deliberated upon thoroughly again. When the School Board passes the agenda presented, then only the matter is taken up to the Academic Council of the university comprising of VC, Deans of Schools, all Heads of Departments, and external experts from other universities. The highest body is the Executive Council which ratifies major decisions, comprising of VC, Deans of Schools, principals of colleges in Nagaland, and senior professors, reader (on rotation) of the university and external experts from various universities/institutes”.
Unfortunately the “tyrannical, insulting and unbecoming behavior of the present Vice Chancellor, in overriding questions, objections and suggestions and not allowing discussions which is inconvenient for him in the Academic and Executive Councils during such august meetings and the revision of the minutes which are recorded meticulously in each meeting, long after such meetings are over, have resulted in the en masse resignations of all heads of departments and representatives to these councils of Nagaland University”.
“When the resources required for research, for infrastructural development and for academic activities are misused, when the rules and regulations of the university are flouted to suit the vested interests of a few and when a high level of incompetence is generated because there are no checks and balances or accountability, it is very obvious that the proper functioning of the university will be hampered and stunted: NUTA said.
Further, the university suffers from red-tapism: “It is almost a certainty that important files will just disappear in the headquarter; vital circulars and notifications will reach the departments at the last minute or sometimes long after the last date is over, matters related to students work/results would be delayed, forgotten or misplaced etc and teachers and students alike will have to run in circles to get any work done. The dilapidated working condition with run down offices, outdated laboratories and lack of all the basic facilities is certainly not conducive for a healthy working environment and newly constructed buildings are falling apart which is a very real danger to the lives of the occupants of such buildings. Added to all this is the victimization/harassment of teachers who questions the functioning of the officials” NUTA explained.
‘It would be so cozy to quietly plunder the university, so why would the teachers come out of their comfort zone and why would they be willing to take on the authorities amid threats and intimidation and face the ire of the students, the parents and the public in general?’ the NUTA queried.
“If the teachers don’t raise their voices, if they don’t come out of the comfort zones, if they ignore the problems of the university and if they do not care, who will? As major stakeholders in the university, the teachers have every right to demand that the wrongs be corrected and that the functioning of the university be at par with the norms laid down by UGC” the NUTA said.
To stand back and remain a mute spectator, NUTA said, would be “suicidal”. “If we brush aside the Nagaland University problems as merely teachers creating a nuisance or if all the dirt is brushed under the carpet, forget an academic year, entire generations would stand to lose the academic requirements that they would have received from their own university and in their own state. In the end what would we have to show? Nothing except our shame that we allowed it to come to such a pass” it added.