Newmai News Network
Imphal | February 5
The All Tribal Students’ Union Manipur (ATSUM) has expressed concern over the "apathetic conduct" of the state government of Manipur with regard to the implementation of 7th UGC Pay and Regulations 2018 in Manipur which was approved by the state cabinet on August 6, 2020.
In a statement on Friday, the apex tribal student body of Manipur stated that since 2018, teachers of government colleges of the state, under the banner of the Federation of Government College Teachers’ Association Manipur (FEGOCTA), had been conducting various forms of agitation like class boycott, sit-in protests, etc., demanding that the UGC’s regulations be implemented in the state.
"This periodic and persistent agitation of teachers and the corresponding silent spectatorship response of the Education (U) department or the state government have caused nothing good to any party of them but caused great loss to the academic careers of the innocent college students for the past 2 years," it stated.
The ATSUM stated that the state government’s failure to implement the UGC’s regulations even after six months of the cabinet’s approval had compelled the government college teachers to resume their agitation from January 28, 2021 onwards, “with a threat of resorting to a sit-in-protest and boycott of academic activities in colleges.”
Stating that the FEGOCTA agitation has entered the seventh day, the student body underscored that the agitations have impacted the sentiments/psychologies of the thousands of students as their academic life remains at stake with semester exams nearing.
“It is a fact that teachers have substantially contributed in shaping the future of the state by investing their whole life in moulding human resource development of the state…And as the 7th UGC Pay and Regulation 2018 is a national policy enjoyed by government college teachers of other states and even by employees of Manipur state, implementation of the same will improve collegiate education of Manipur," it reasoned.
Stating that the current impasse is a threat to the academic careers of students, the ATSUM urged the State Government to immediately intervene and resolve the deadlock by issuing an order for implementation of 7th UGC Pay and Regulations 2018 in government colleges.
