Manipur Education Minister Thokchom Radheshyam made an earnest appeal to the agitating bodies, student organizations and all other stakeholders to call off the present stir at Manipur University to enable restoration of academic atmosphere in the educational institutions of the State.
Minister Radheshyam made the appeal while addressing a press conference in Imphal last night. Commissioner (Higher and Technical Education and Education-S) H Deleep and Director (Education-S) Th Kirankumar also attended the press meet.
Expressing concern over the non-declaration of the semester examination of the collages, Radheshyam said that the delay in declaration of the results of students who have taken the sixth semester examination is limiting the option of pursuing higher studies and is expected to create a grave situation in the future management of higher education in the State.
In case, a backlog is created of such huge numbers, it will be critically challenging for the authorities involved in the management of higher education in the future, he added.
Informing that about 93 colleges are currently affiliated to Manipur University, he said there are about 27,000 students in each year of the three-year under-graduate degree programme.
The total students’ strength of the above colleges is about 82,000.
Students who passed the sixth semester which may number about 20,000 are expected to seek for higher studies at Manipur University and other universities.
The Manipur University has a strength of about 3000 students which suggest that its intake capacity annually is limited to about 1500 students, he said while adding that the balance of students are expected to seek admissions for further studies in different universities of the country.
Radheshyam, who is also the government spokesperson, urged all the stakeholders to help declaration of results of the sixth semester examination for the sake of the students and their welfare.
The Minister sought people’s support, especially, from the parents, teachers and students in this regard.
He also urged the agitating bodies to allow conduct of regular classes in Manipur University, colleges and schools, and also to let the admission procedures begin.
He said that the issue relating to the demand for removal of the Vice Chancellor of Manipur University has seriously affected the academic atmosphere of different educational institutions of the State.
In order to sort out the matter, discussions at the level of the Chief Minister Biren Singh with the representatives of Manipur University Students’ Union and Manipur University Teachers’ Association had already been held on various occasions, he informed.
The university community continues to demand an inquiry under the provisions of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 so that the body may function more independently.
He informed that the initial functioning of Dhanamanjuri University will be started from the current academic year.
He appealed to allow the Dhanamanjuri authority to continue with the admission procedure so that the functioning of the new university is not affected in its very infancy.