ANCSU to protest against apathy of government on Poll Day
Morung Express News
Kohima | May 19
The All Nagaland College Students’ Union (ANCSU) has announced that it will abstain from voting in the Nagaland Lok Sabha by-elections to be held on May 28 in protest against the failure of the state government to meet their demands on the issue of detachment of teachers, scholarships and encroachment in educational institutions.
Nearly one lakh students under the 42 affiliated colleges under ANCSU will not be voting as a sign of protest and resentment against the government for failing to improve the education sector in Nagaland.
“We have written to the Chief Minister multiple times and even sought appointment with him, but he has not yet given a positive response so we were compelled to come out with a resolution in our first presidential meeting that the ANCSU with its 42 affiliated colleges will abstain from participating in the by-election Lok Sabha seats in Nagaland, Katho P Awomi, ANCSU president informed during a press conference.
Besides abstaining from casting votes, the college students are also planning to come out on the streets on the very day of election.
Expressing discontentment over the failure of the government to improve the education sector, the ANCSU stated that there has been no change in the education sector be it higher education, or school education.
“We are talking about change, but there is no change. There is no new policy adopted for the school education, higher education, or technical education. They are not listening to our multiple appeals. We are not even asked to sit around the table to discuss the possibilities,” stated Awomi.
In a recent memorandum, the ANCSU had sought detachment of teachers who were attached to Ministers, MLAs and other officials within 30 days. “Teachers are appointed to discharge their duty as teachers in the schools however these teachers are deputed in other programs. We are against this and told the department to re-depute the teachers,” stated Awomi.
However, the ANCSU received a letter on May 14 from the Secretary to Government of Nagaland, School Education department mentioning that ‘total detachment (teachers to SSA and RMSA missions) will not be possible as there is no sanctioned post for administrative staff of the two missions. Yet, the administrative staff will be minimized to a great extent by detaching some teachers with the merger of SSA and RMSA missions into Samagra Siksha Abhiyan.’ The ANCSU viewed that this is affecting the students at large.
No nodal cell dept for streamlining of scholarships yet
The demand for a nodal cell department for streamlining of scholarship is yet to be met. Once the nodal cell is set up, the ANCSU viewed that duplications will be detected and the government will be responsible for sensitizing the beneficiaries of the multiple schemes available to students. At present, there are over seven departments in the State such the Social Welfare, School Education, SIRD, Labour department, SCERT, Higher Education, Technical Education which implementing varied scholarship schemes for students.
Kohima Science College, Jotsoma land encroachment
On the illegal encroachment of the Kohima Science College, Jotsoma, the ANCSU has written several appeals to the Chief Minister without receiving any response. “The CM has not even deputed the government officials to discuss on these matters,” it said. A joint survey on the boundary margin of the institution was done with the District administration on May 18.
“Once the boundary is properly demarcated, we will be able to identify the illegal encroachers. If eviction of the illegal encroachers is not done, ANCSU will be compelled to shift the Science College because our Nagas need the college which will be deemed a university in the near future,” the ANCSU members highlighted.
Reminder to students who have not received scholarship
Despite press releases and information circulated in the print media, about 2000 cheques of the 2016-2017 scholarships are still lying unclaimed.
“The pending scholarship has been cleared from the government’s side, and we are expecting the 2017- 2018 payment in three to four months.
However some of the students’ cheques have bounced back to the department due to technical errors while filling online,” the ANCSU members stated while mentioning that many students are assuming that they have not received without realizing that their cheques has bounced back.
It has reminded the students to contact the department to claim their scholarships or get in touch with ANCSU for assistance.
