DMU teachers of five constituent colleges stage sit-in-protest

A day after they ceased taking online and offline classes, agitating teachers of Dhanamanjuri University, Manipur, staged a sit-in-protest on Wednesday.

Teachers of five colleges of the cluster university launched the strike under the aegis of Adhoc Committee of the Constituent Colleges, in protest against a move of the authority of the university to recruit fresh teachers without completing the due process for conversion of the existing faculty of the constituent colleges.

Accusing authorities of the university authority of failure to pay heed to their demand, the teachers have ceased taking online and offline classes from Tuesday. On Wednesday, teachers of all the five constituent colleges converged at DM College of Science campus and staged the sit-in-protest. The protest will continue further by shifting the site. The protest will be staged at the campuses of other constituent colleges, said co-convenor K Anthony of Adhoc Committee.

Anthony alleged that since the very inception of the cluster university, teachers of the five constituent colleges have been drawing the attention of the authority to address the plights of the teaching fraternity of the university.

However, instead of settling the cases of absorption of the existing teachers of the constituent colleges, the university authority is processing for conducting a fresh recruitment to appoint teachers, the co-convenor alleged.

The move has disappointed teachers who are taking main roles in shaping the university since the university came into existence. The move further violated the guidelines laid down by Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), he alleged.

The cluster university came into existence under The Dhanamanjuri University Act, 2017 that came into force on April 6, 2018. The university was established under the National Scheme of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA).

He said, “We (existing teachers) are not opposing the move to recruit fresh teachers but we are demanding to settle the absorption of the teachers who have been utilizing as faculty of the University since inception.”

If the state government fails to interfere and address the demand of the teachers even after the democratic form of protest, the teachers will be compelled to intensify the stir, he threatened.
“We are ready to launch intense forms of agitations if our demand is addressed even after the series of sit-in-protest. We, the teachers, resolved to fight unitedly,” he said.

NNN