Irregularities in polytechnics
This is with reference to the irregularities in the appointment processes of contractual teaching staff in the polytechnics of Assam and gross negligence on the part of the authority in ensuring quality teaching in the polytechnics. The Assam government has tried to revamp the existing 26 polytechnics in Assam by allotting Rs 10 crore to each polytechnic. TATA Technologies has also started construction of TATA workshops in each polytechnic to transform the state’s polytechnics into centres of excellence for each district. But it has been observed that due to a lack of qualified teaching staff, both in the classrooms and laboratories, most of the students don’t have the proper knowledge or skills to be appointed or even trained to qualify for a job with a technical role. This is rooted in the irregularities in the appointment of the current teaching work force in the polytechnics, especially in the new polytechnics where the majority of the staff is contractual.
Since 2016–17, guest lecturers were appointed by DTE through proper screening until February 2021, but beyond this date, the contractual staff appointed were verified by the institute themselves and assigned workload as per convenience without proper intervention by DTE, Assam. In this reference, most of the teaching staff working in the laboratories are also appointed by the respective in-charge principals of the polytechnics, where most of them are appointed without the proper screening process prescribed by DTE, Assam. Further, even with the availability of biometric scanners for punching in and out times, most principals disregard the sanctity of following office rules and regulations and allow teaching and non-teaching staff to arrive and leave the office at whatever schedule they deem convenient, leaving students without theory and practical classes.
Recently, it was observed that in the five new polytechnics, the syllabus could not be completed on time before the semester examinations, and students had to cramp whatever they could find in previous year question papers before exams, disregarding the skills and knowledge they would require in their lives and focusing only on somehow passing their semester exams so that the institute could keep their pass percentages up and no one inquired about the institute’s ability to produce a Diploma Engineer. It is also witnessed that lecturers appointed in the five new polytechnics under Regulation 3f of the Assam Public Service Commission (Limitation of Functions) on an adhoc basis by the Directorate of Technical Education, Assam, protest frequently against the BJP-led Assam Government for regularization and stop any further recruitment process, even going as far as to neglect scheduled regular classes.
Such disregard for maintaining a clean and conducive learning environment in the polytechnics and disinterest on the part of the in-charge principals to maintain a functioning polytechnic are seriously hampering and hindering the progress of the state and destroying the future of thousands of students studying in these polytechnics. So, I would urge the Director of Technical Education, Assam, the Secretary of Higher Education, and the current authority to look into the matters of such gross negligence so that public money is not further wasted and siphoned off, leaving our youth destitute with diplomas in their hands and confusion in their minds.
Dr Manjuri Roy,
Bongaigaon, Assam.
Plastic waste cannot be erased
Over the past three decades, the number of visitors or tourists at the visiting sites and tourist places located in the mountains has increased day by day. Large hotels and many types of entertainment and other modern facilities are set up by business people for their accommodation arrangements, because of which mountains are cracking. Plastic waste is being spread by tourists, and many other types of chemical waste have spread on the mountains. Apart from this, not only the earth but also the sky and groundwater sources are gradually getting polluted. If this continues, then in the future, even the springs in the hilly district, which provide the purest drinking water, will be unable to provide clean water. Strict rules need to be made for this from now on.
Nawaz Ashraf,
Guwahati.