Manipur Education Minister Sorokhaibam Rajen Singh has appealed to all the teachers to be patient and bear with the government on the issues concerning the insufficient number of teachers in colleges until the results of fresh recruitment of college lecturers are out.

He was speaking at the launching of ‘University and Higher Education Digital Support Scheme (UHEDSS)’ organised by the department of University and Higher Education, Manipur at DM College of Teacher Education on Wednesday. It was launched for development of IT infrastructure, implementation of MOODLE Learning Management System, e-Office etc. in the colleges of Manipur.

Speaking at the function as chief guest, Rajen said that the state has been facing the shortage of college teachers and the hampering of proper implementation of transfer policy as a result.

The government understands the problems faced by a particular teacher who has been serving in interior parts of the state for a long period. But unfortunately, their problems could not be addressed as of now until the pending recruitment result of around 164 assistant professors is declared.

All the processes have been completed for the declaration of result, except for a pending approval from the chief minister of the state, he further said, informing that once the results are out, newly recruited teachers can be posted at far flung areas.

Rajen also said that they have been taking up various initiatives to improve the education sector of the state even during COVID-19 pandemic so that human resources can be developed to a great extent. In order to promote inclusive online classes, smartphones were distributed to students hailing from poor financial backgrounds, he said.  Officials are concentrating on enhancing NAAC grades of most colleges in the state, he added.

The department will extend possible efforts for effective implementation of National Education Policy 2020 in the state, he added.

State chief secretary Rajesh Kumar announced that the government of India had sanctioned Rs 25 crore to transform all the state government departments as an e-office. The state government has set a target to achieve it by 2022 and become one of the first states in North East India to convert entire offices into an e-office system, he said.

To fulfill it, the department of Information Technology had given training to around 90 per cent of government employees, he informed. The conversion of offices into e-office mode would help in bringing transparency in the system, easy accessibility of services and so on.
Under the scheme that was launched today, information technology equipment such as laptops, computers and pen drives etc. were distributed to around 25 colleges (government and government aided colleges) of a total number of 45 colleges in phases.

The programme was also attended by commissioner, Higher and Technical Education M Harekrishna and director, University and Higher Education Rangitabali Waikhom.