Dimapur, November 29 (MExN): The All Nagaland College Students’ Union (ANCSU) has sought a response from the Nagaland Minister for Higher Education & Tribal Affairs on matters concerning contractual teachers under the Higher Education Department.
In a representation on Tuesday, ANCSU President Toito D Chishi and General Secretary Tenyesinlo Bukh recalled that the Union had brought up the matter on several occasions. The most recent was on October 3, 2022 when the ANCSU wrote to the state Chief Secretary, giving the government 30 days to resolve the issue. However, such a resolution ‘is yet to see the light of the day,’ it said.
The ANCSU said that it has remained patient even after the expiry of the 30-day timeframe ‘in order not to disturb the ongoing semester exam.’ However, the ANCSU will not allow the service continuation of contractual teachers from the next academic session unless on exigency which is in line with University Grants Commission guidelines, it asserted.
The matter must be resolved on priority basis and immediately concluded, it said, while cautioning that the Union would at anytime, “launch its democratic protest/agitation and your department shall be held responsible for any resulting catastrophe.”
According to the Union, it has been the Minister’s “continued assurance to dispose the matter” during his tenure and the same has been discussed on several instances.
“The union has also not forgotten your ardent speech on Day One of the Twelfth Session of the Thirteenth Nagaland Legislative Assembly, whereby you have categorically mentioned that, ‘154 contractual assistant professor posts are in the process of regularization’ and that, ‘the file is being compiled and it is now in process to see what best can be done for these contractual teachers at the earliest,’” it said, quoting the Minister.
Lamenting that the matter has remained unresolved for more than a decade, the ANCSU demanded to know “the merit of these statements being made in the floor of the house on September 20, 2022.”
