DESAM to petition HC over appointment delay
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, November 20 2021: Democratic Students' Alliance of Manipur (DESAM) has cautioned of filing a case in the Manipur High Court if the state government does not announce the appointment of requisite teachers for Dhanamanjuri College of Teacher Education (DMCTE).

Speaking to newspersons at DESAM's office here on Saturday, vice president Sital Oinam urged the government either to dissolve DMCTE or work its level best to save the college.

It should make its stand clear to the people, he added.

He said that the M Ed course of DMCTE has been without a sanctioned post for the last 15 years.

Instead of having a regular principal, a caretaker in-charge has been entrusted the task.

When DMCTE's recognition was cancelled, its teachers were utilised, sparing none.

But when it is okay, there are no teachers to speak of.

The situation has continued to be same over the years and" it is now time to put an end to this issue once and for all, he added.

Sital continued: "The B Ed college is already utilising teachers from other colleges due to shortage of its own.

However, the teachers no longer want to be proactive as they are receiving their pay from somewhere and working elsewhere.

One can only imagine the type of future teachers such lackadaisical teachers will produce.

"With the implementation of NEP-2020, theBEd college is not allowed to exist on its own and need to be integrated as a multi-disciplinary.

As such, the future of DMCTE is quite bleak.

If the government is unable to appoint the teachers for DMCTE, it could either merge the teachers with that of another college and convert DMCTE into an advance study centre or it could merge the college with a university, or dissolve the college and instead formulate integrated teacher education programmes (ITEPs) from time to time.

"However, the most important thing at the moment is that NCTE is collecting Performance Appraisal Report (PAR) of all Teacher Education facilities across the country, by January.

DMCTE, unfortunately, in unable to fill in the reports owing to absence of a regular principal and requisite number of teachers.

In addition, the DIET Centres under the SCERT are also supposed to send the reports but have been unable to do due to shortage of teachers," he conveyed.

Recounting that DESAM had been demanding appointment of a principal for the B Ed college for the last 2-3 years, the vice president said that although protests were staged for the same, no concrete action has been taken up till date.

Furthermore, the government is yet to conduct a recruitment drive to appoint college teachers in accordance to ITEPs.

"Teachers cannot be appointed overnight as opposed to a government which could be formed in one single night with defections, alliances and what not," Sital remarked.

Urging the government to give hope to the students and ensure ITEP is not dissolved, the vice president further urged for ensuring survival of the lone DMCTE in the state.

Teacher Education cannot be easily obtained, as is seen with the lack of a Professor in Education in the state till date, he added.

Cautioning of filing a case in the High Court if the government continues to stay ignorant and refuses to produce white paper on what it plans to do regarding the matter; Sital said that DESAM had already approached the Vigilance Department on NCTE.

"We will take the help of the law courts to straighten out the educational fiasco of B Ed college," he stated firmly.

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