Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Nehu teachers oppose move on new heads

Shillong, March 30: The North Eastern Hill University (Nehu) is poised for more rough times with the university teachers’ association opposing the move of vice-chancellor Pramod Tandon to appoint new heads in two departments.

At a meeting last night, the North Eastern Hill University Teachers’ Association opposed Tandon’s move to appoint new heads in the departments of information technology and electronics and communication. The two heads of departments had resigned after some KSU activists manhandled them for conducting the examinations on a holiday on December 30 last year.

Iftekar Hussain and S.K. Dutta, heads of department of information technology and electronics and communication respectively, had resigned from their posts soon after the incident demanding congenial working environment and condemning the university for holding the examinations on a holiday.

President of the Nehu teachers’ association S.B. Prasad in a statement issued here said three months after the incident, an inquiry committee instituted by Tandon submitted the report on the matter yesterday without even meeting the affected teachers.

“Moreover, the vice-chancellor conducted a meeting with faculty of the school of technology to appoint two new heads in place of the earlier ones who had resigned,” Prasad alleged.

He said Tandon had failed to take responsibility for scheduling the examination on a state holiday on December 30, which is the death anniversary of Khasi freedom fighter Kiang Nagbah.

He said the vice-chancellor did not do anything positive towards mitigating the insult and humiliation suffered by the teachers.

The association in a resolution also clarified that the teachers cannot be held responsible for scheduling the examination and hurting local sentiments.

“It is rather the office of the vice-chancellor that should take all the responsibility for notifying examination on a local holiday,” Prasad said.

The association also said the move on the part of the vice-chancellor to appoint new heads of the departments amounts to double humiliation of the teachers.

“Hence the vice-chancellor should offer an unconditional apology to the affected teachers for humiliating them further by not showing any solidarity with them,” Prasad added.

According to the teachers’ body, Tandon should also request the teachers to withdraw their resignation letters.

The association demanded proper upkeep of security on the campus so that such incidents do not recur in the future.

“We want Nehu to strengthen the security of the teachers and staff on duty so that they do not have to be subjected to such a shame,” Prasad added.

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