In his recent interviews, Hon’ble Minister Temjen Imna Along, Minister of Higher Education & Tourism, Nagaland, mentioned Wangkhao Government College (WGC) multiple times. As a former student and Union leader of WGC, I feel it is important to clarify certain facts regarding the events surrounding the teacher shortage issue and the protest that took place in Feb. 2020.
Wangkhao Government College, the only college in Mon district, has been facing a severe shortage of teachers for many decades. Teachers were transferred by the government but never replaced, leaving students in a difficult situation. During my three years in the college, there were subjects we were never taught due to the absence of teachers. Despite this, we prepared notes ourselves or borrowed from friends in other colleges, and wrote exams on those subjects without proper instruction.
We had submitted numerous memorandums and applications to the concerned department, requesting the appointment of teachers, but our appeals were consistently ignored. Finally, during our final year in 2020, we decided to protest not for ourselves, but so that our juniors wouldn’t have to face the same fate.
We protested for two days. On the second evening, Minister Temjen Imna Along personally called me and requested that we call off the protest, giving a verbal assurance that teachers would be appointed. I requested a written assurance, and he sent one, though it was brief and unsatisfactory. It only stated that the department would appoint teachers within ten days.
I, along with my executives requested a more detailed written assurance, specifying the number of teachers in each department. After a lengthy phone discussion, we reached an agreement that seven teachers would be appointed within ten working days. The Minister requested us not to disclose this second assurance, which mentioned the specific number of teachers, but gave us the liberty to reveal it if the department failed to follow through.
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As Union office bearers, in respect to our minister request, we shared only the first written assurance with the students at first. I still recall the criticism and dissatisfaction we faced from our friends and juniors that evening for call of the protest. However, on Monday morning, I and my executive team read out the second written assurance that clearly stated seven teachers would be appointed within ten working days. That’s when we decided to call off the protest.
It must be clearly stated that we never demanded contractual teachers. The department later claimed that due to the urgent need, they would appoint seven assistant professors on a one-year contract. An advertisement was circulated, and the teachers were appointed through a proper interview process. The real failure lies in the government’s continued extension of these contracts instead of appointing regular assistant professors, as per the assurance given by the Minister himself.
Therefore, it is unfair and misleading for the Minister or any authority to blame Wangkhao Government College or its student body for demanding what is rightfully ours a full teaching faculty. We never asked for contractual appointments. The 2020 protest should not be misunderstood, misrepresented, or used as a tool to manipulate the current situation. Our demands were sincere and rooted in the genuine concern for the future of our college and its students.
Pangnyei, Former Student Leader WGCSU 2019-20
