ASSA joins SU spat, condemns NSUI ‘meddling’

GANGTOK, 17 July: The All Sikkim Students’ Association has, in a press release issued by its president Sonam Tshering Lepcha, today, joined the ongoing Sikkim University-ruling party spat and registered its condemnation of statements issued by the NSUI-Sikkim, highlighting that it was wrong to mix the issue of land allocation and college affiliations. The reference here obviously to the still-pending allocation of land for campus to SU and the University’s stand of granting affiliation to the government degree college inaugurated at Kyongsa in Gyalshing, West Sikkim, recently.

Contending that a central University was granted to Sikkim due to the “untiring efforts” of the State Government, the release adds that ASSA has been working for the welfare of the students for quite some time and believes that the statements by the “newly formed NSUI (Sikkim)” are “against the interest of the general students of Sikkim”.
NSUI, it may be recalled, has demanded that the State Government immediately hand over the land acquired for Sikkim University at Yangyang and has lashed out against the State Government for having issued statements against the SU Vice Chancellor.
ASSA, in its press statement issued today, questioned what it calls the “thoughtless attitude” of the VC towards students here in not only refusing affiliation to Kyongsa college, but also objecting when the State Government got affiliation for the college from a different university.
ASSA sees this as a “breach of trust” by the VC in his responsibility towards the development of human resource in Sikkim.
The release argues that a provisional affiliation could have been grated keeping in mind the benefit it would have secured for students from rural and economically weak section of society and a time-frame could have been given for infrastructure and necessary prerequisites to be established.
Sections which are refusing to address this aspect of the issue and extending support only for the VC are ignoring the needs of the students, the release argues, adding that the student community was “aggrieved by the response from certain section of the society which is trying to mix the issue of land and college affiliation in the same platter”.
The university, ASSA alleges, “is playing with the future of the students of Sikkim” and has rejected NSUI statements on the issue as stands which have neither the endorsement nor the interest of students here.
“We further appeal to all not to make students a weapon of the press and media,” the release adds.
“We have never talked against the calibre of the Vice Chancellor, but as an academician and well wisher of the Sikkimese society we would only request him to work for the interest of the state keeping in view the position he holds,” the release details.
The release also appeals on people to comment on the issue only after understanding all the related facts.
Among the complaints that the association enumerates in its release, apart from the Kyongsa degree college affiliation issue, is the university’s focus to start only non-traditional courses while ignoring courses which are of prime requirement like Mathematics, Political Science, History, Commerce and English.
Clarifying that ASSA is not opposed to non-traditional courses, the release adds that despite Sikkim suffering an acute shortage of teachers for mathematics and Science, and despite students having appealed for the launch of post-graduate courses in these subjects, the VC has not considered these demands.
The release points out that this stand leads to a situation where not only is the human resource requirement for teachers not met, but also leads to those who cannot afford to go out and pursue further education to forgo education after graduation despite there now being a university in Sikkim.
“Who is going to speak up for these students who have to stay back home after graduation?” the release questions while appealing on the people to address these, very real, issues instead of approaching the issue only from political stances. Had these “traditional” courses been introduced, many Sikkimese candidates too would have been able to apply for faculty positions in the university, the release adds.