Meghalaya College Teachers join nationwide protest against UGC Guidelines
The Meghalaya College Teachers’ Association (MCTA) joins in nationwide protest for an immediate withdrawal of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Guidelines dated 6th of July 2020 and suggest for an alternate mode of examination.
The nationwide protest was organised by Joint Forum for Movement on Education (JFME) on Wednesday.
In a press communique, general secretary MCTA A Basaiwmoit said “This decision of the Meghalaya College Teachers’ Association (MCTA) is taken in view of the ongoing pandemic situation in our state and with great concern for the safety of the health and lives of our students in particular and the state at large.
In Meghalaya, the students are drawn from the different states of the North East where connectivity is a matter of privilege. In light of this any online mode of examination as suggested by UGC cannot be undertaken. If an offline mode or blended mode of examination is conducted, we would like to state that in the present scenario where interstate movement is restricted this might cause to be a problem. Further, some of the students during this Lockdown have had to let go of their rented accommodation due to financial problems and coming back for the examinations would imply that institutional quarantine will be required apart from assisting them in procuring a hostel stay for the period of the examination. We would also like to reiterate that as per the WHO and ICMR advisory, social distancing of 1-2 metres, mask and hand hygiene is of utmost importance to limit the transmission. Further it may be added that being in proximity or in an enclosed space for more than 15 minutes to an asymptomatic person is considered high risk exposure. Therefore, to accommodate the students for an offline examination as per the latest UGC Guidelines is impracticable.”
The MCTA urges all its units to desist from any form of college activities in support of this nation-wide protest. We also appeal to all the stakeholders of Higher Education to show their support and join the protest as it concerns the larger interest of the student and teacher community.
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UGC needs to support “No Exam “in this pandemic situation, promote the final year students on their past n class performances.