GUWAHATI, March 23 - The Assam College Principals� Council (ACPC) has opposed the State Government�s office memorandum (OM) dated February 18, 2019, prohibiting engagement of teaching and non-teaching staff in provincialised colleges of the State on a temporary basis.
The ACPC has urged the Government to withdraw the OM immediately. Failure to do so would render the task of imparting quality higher education in the State impossible, it maintained.
The ACPC, in its executive committee meeting held here, resolved to submit a memorandum demanding withdrawal of the OM to the Governor of Assam, the Education Minister, the Principal Secretary of Higher Education and the Education Adviser to the Government of Assam.
A delegation of the council had already met Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in Dibrugarh on March 10 and called for withdrawal of the OM.
The council alleged that the OM had created �an uncertain and panic situation� in the provincialised colleges of the State.
�All the colleges of the State engage contractual/part-time/ad-hoc staff to run classes and the administration. The Government has not created a single post in the older provincialized colleges of the State and there are insufficient numbers of posts in the newly-provincialized colleges whereas enrolment has more than doubled in the last thirty years,� the council said in a statement.
According to the council, there was no justification for bringing the OM by the Government and all the colleges engage temporary staff on the basis of needs and pay their salaries from their own funds.
�Even the UGC regulation, 2018 permits engagement of teachers on contractual basis. If the OM is strictly implemented, the universities might de-affiliate the subjects due to insufficient number of teachers. The peer teams of National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) always recommend introduction of new subjects/courses. Based on these recommendations and on societal need, the colleges open many subjects/courses even on self-sustaining mode. What will happen to the students enrolled and the teachers engaged in these courses?� it said.
The ACPC further alleged that the Government has not given permission to fill up vacant posts in Grade IV category for the last several years, and said that the colleges have to depend on temporary staff due to this.
�In the teaching and non-teaching category also, appointment has virtually stopped for the last few years. More than 1,000 sanctioned posts in teaching category and more than 500 posts in the non-teaching category are lying vacant in the colleges. The colleges are forced to engage temporary staff to maintain classes. The universities of the State have started Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) at undergraduate level as mandated by the UGC. Under CBCS as per the syllabi given by the UGC, the workload of the teachers would further increase,� the statement said.
The ACPC said that without sufficient numbers of teachers, the choices of students would be restricted and the proposed new system would fail, adding that even in colleges under the Delhi University, more than 4,000 teachers are working under the ad-hoc category.
As per the OM, the principal and members of the governing bodies of colleges will be held responsible for any violation of this order. �If the principals do not submit compliance report in the month of April, grants to the colleges will be blocked. This has further added panic in the colleges. The ACPC urges the Government to withdraw the OM immediately, otherwise it will be impossible to impart quality higher education in the State,� the ACPC statement said.
