Students and police personnel clashed on Monday at Dhanamanjuri University (DMU) when the students reportedly stormed the vice chancellor’s office demanding authorities concerned to start the 3rd semester post graduate classes.
During the incident, police personnel reportedly used force against the protesting students to rein in the situation. However, no serious injuries were reported in the clash.
Following the incident, a meeting between student representatives and university authorities was called immediately.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, general secretary of DMU PG Students association L Poireiton Meitei pointed out that university authorities failed to maintain proper academic calendar for the PG section and stated that internal conflicts within the teaching faculty and university administration had led to the failure.
“During the meeting the VC had assured to resolve the issues with teachers and strive to commence classes by end of Yaoshang holidays but the assurance lacked conviction,” he said.
As such, Poireiton cautioned that students will resume the agitations if no amicable solution is settled during the said time period. He further highlighted that PG students of DMU are lagging behind by one complete semester compared to other universities in Manipur.
“Mark sheets for PG 1st semester exams conduced in 2021 is yet to be given out, that is the extent of administrative failure in DMU,” Poireiton added.
He expressed disappointment over the authorities for disregarding the academic plights of PG students and urged authorities to resolve the issue at the earliest.
Meanwhile, DMU Vice Chancellor professor N Rajmuhon singh said teachers of the five constituent colleges under DMU had taking both PG and UG classes since the university’s inception in 2018.
He highlighted that Dhanamanjuri Univeristy Teachers’ Association (DMUTA) had filed a complaint demanding clear classification of PG and UG teachers as simultaneous classes had impeded the academic quality.
“Acting on the complaint, the university authority ordered deans of the 3 schools-science, social science and humanities to conduct a survey to ascertain the proportion of teachers interested in taking UG and PG classes,” he said.
Rajmuhon also mentioned that the order adhered to UGC criteria for selection of PG teachers in universities.
The VC highlighted that according to the survey report the teachers opted to teach PG classes in huge numbers. Following the report UG students voiced their discontentment demanding more teachers for their classes, he added.
He maintained that as many as 60 teachers had also applied for PG teaching posts at DMU following a directorate order.
“The authority’s move to even out the teaching faculty in the university ended up creating more unwanted incidents,” he said.
As such, Rajmuhon stated that a syndicate meeting of university authorities was called on Monday which resolved to follow the old teaching format until the directorate sorts out all bifurcation orders.
He further stated that the authority would strive to resolve the issues by the end of holidays.
