IMPHAL, Oct 5: The Coordinating Committee of College Students’ Unions, Manipur, has resolved to launch stern agitations from October 10 if the state government fails to fulfil the demands of the students regarding the improvement of higher education sector of the state within five days.
Addressing a press meet this afternoon at GP Women’s College, the convenor of the coordinating committee, L. Sanjit stated the committee has submitted a memorandum to the state government including the Governor in the month of August underscoring their demands for improvement of higher education in the state.
These include demands for appointment of regular director of higher education department as well as regular principals of government colleges, filling up of necessary teaching and non-teaching staffs in the colleges, opening of job-oriented and professional courses, adequate supply of power and water, upgradation of laboratories and libraries with internet facilities etc.
The state government has remained blind and deaf to the demands of the students who desire improvement of higher education in the state whereby putting the students of the state at stake, he said.
Sanjit further maintained that the concerned authority should try to fulfil the demands of the students at the earliest, and failure of which will compel the students to resort to various democratic means to achieve the demands for the improvement of higher education.
In the meantime, The Democratic Students’ Alliance of Manipur (DESAM) and the Coordination Committee of College Students’ Unuons have jointly submitted a memorandum to the chief minister Okram Ibobi yesterday to fulfill the recommendations of the two-day brainstorming session on the topic “Issues and Challenges of Higher Education in Manipur†held on August 10-11 at the conference hall of ICM, Imphal.
Speaking to mediapersons this afternoon at the DESAM head-office, general secretary of DESAM, M. Angamba stated that certain recommendations were taken as an end result of two-day brainstorming session which dwelled on major issues of infrastructure, teaching and learning and governance of higher education of the state.
The session participated by many eminent scholars, academicians and students of the state have taken the recommendations for the improvement of higher education in the state, he said.
The recommendations of the brainstorming session are improvement of physical infrastructure with regard to providing facilities of water, electricity and internet along with renovation of college buildings, laboratories and toilets; filling up of vacant posts of director of higher education which has been lying vacant since 1986 and appointment of principals and other teaching staffs on regular basis.
It also demanded conducting common admission test with the objective of rationalizing the admission procedure to different courses in various colleges of the state and constituting Quality Assurance Cell; and formation of new education code in view of replacing the old and out-dated colleges and saving the dying government aided colleges as well as constituting State Advisory Board of Education (SABE) after the model of Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) for ensuring good governance, Angamba highlighted.
On behalf of all the students of the state, the general secretary of DESAM has made an appeal to the state government to take up the needful steps to fulfill the above recommendations in the real interests of the students of the state.
