IT Exclusive
Imphal, May 23:
Many Junior Research Fellowship(JRF) holders, who have been waiting for PhD registration in Manipur University particularly in the Teacher Education Department as supernumerary scholars since 2020 now have to appear for the admission test in 2024 due to the negligence of the Manipur University authorities. According to Manipur University 2019 ordinance for PHD, “UGC-CISR JRF/ICMR JRF/Inspired candidates (after PG) and foreign nationals shall be allowed to enroll Provisional Ph.D Registration any time during the whole academic calendar without appearing in the admission test. They should be treated as supernumerary candidates.” Source from Manipur University said that instead of registering the qualified students as a Provisional PhD scholar, they were made to wait for more than three years due to procedural delay.
“Since the validity of his JRF is only for three years, scholars who have cleared the JRF-NET Exam in 2019 cannot benefit from the fellowship anymore because they have not been registered as Ph.D Scholars in the Teachers Education department from 2020-2022 despite having consent from the faculty members in the department and multiple appeals and request to authorizes that due process be followed”, a source with Imphal Times said. It added that for those who cleared the NET-JRF exam between 2020-2022, even though the validity of their fellowships is ending soon admissions were not given to them. The Teacher Education department of Manipur University gave them false hope that they would be enrolled as supernumerary candidates by following due process but it never materialized.
MU Teacher Education violates Board of Studies meeting norms
In other display of blatant violation of norms and procedures, the Head of Department and Chairman of the Board of Studies of the Department of Teacher Education, MU called a special meeting today, May 23, 2024, without following guidelines given under Section 31(1) (j) and Statute 16 of Manipur University Act, 2005. The rule states that “notice for the ordinary meeting of the BSD shall be issued at least 10 days before the date fixed for the meeting, and for the special meeting, at least five days before the date fixed for the meeting.” In this case, according to a reliable source, Premlata Maisnam, HOD and Chairman of BSD issued the notification of the meeting on May 22, 2024, one day prior to the meeting for discussing the confirmation of the proceeding of the 15th Meeting of Board of Studies of the Department of Teacher Education, proposal of research guide-ship of Dr. Ch Tomba Singh and other miscellaneous items in complete violation of the rule that the notification of the emergency or special meeting should be issued at least five days prior to it.
As per documents with the Imphal Times, another regulation for PhD was adopted superseding the previous ordinance in February 2023. It stated that “the candidates who qualified for fellowship/scholarship in UGC-JRF/UGC-CSIR JRF/DBT-JRF/Gate or any similar National level tests like NET/SLET or Foreign National candidates may appear in the interview.” With the coming of this new regulation in 2023, not only some of these scholars have lost fellowships due to delays by the department in registering them but also they also have to appear in the upcoming 2024 PhD admission interview under the new regulation and even if selected they will not receive any stipend as Junior Research Fellow. Similarly, those whose JRFs are still valid should have been given admission under the old regulation of 2019, and now have to appear in interviews in 2024 due to the new rules.
It has come to our notice that these scholars have made multiple appeals to the Vice Chancellor, Dean of the School of Education, HoD of Teachers Education and Deputy Registrar that the fellowship are soon expiring and Vice Chancellor has instructed the Head of Department, Teachers Education, to consider the matter but no action was taken by the department and no acknowledgement was made from the part of the department that due to their negligence and delays the future of these scholars are in jeopardy.
But, in other departments, admission has been given to scholars who have clear NET-JRF under the old ordinance. Moreover, without considering their issues, Teacher’s Education Department has even went ahead to accommodate scholars who are given admission in the department to be guided by the teachers working under affiliated colleges. Such provisions are not mentioned in MU Ph.D 2019 ordinance, MU Ph.D Regulation 2023. So, the delay by the Teacher’s Education department is completely unjustified.
1 comment
Imphal times is a so called news agency which is connected with militant before also an eminent academic and vice chancellor good work also been critisiwe by you in reality you people are sin to society