Students Union Fights Nagaland Teaching Standard Changes

Kohima: The All Nagaland College Students Union is pushing back against government plans to lower academic standards. The group submitted a formal protest to the Nagaland chief secretary this week. They want to stop proposals that would drop the mandatory PhD requirement for associate professors and professors. The union also rejects demands to automatically grant permanent status to guest, ad hoc, and contractual lecturers across the state.

Leadership at the union studied the Nagaland Higher Education Service Rules of 2015 alongside UGC regulations from 2010 and 2018. They warn that changing these rules hurts the quality of research and classroom instruction. According to the union, the existing framework mandates a PhD for promotion from assistant professor to associate professor at Academic Level 13A. They claim that lowering these bars without a legal basis ruins institutional governance.

The union advocates for a fair hiring process. "The students body maintained that lowering qualification requirements without a clear statutory and regulatory basis could have implications for the quality of teaching, research, academic supervision and institutional governance." They argued that skipping competitive exams blocks young professionals from entering the field. Instead, they insist that all future faculty hiring must run through the Nagaland Public Service Commission to ensure transparency and equal opportunity for every qualified candidate.