‘Miscommunication’ leads to confrontation between students and police

Our Correspondent

Kohima, Oct. 15 (EMN): In what was termed as a case of ‘communication gap’ between the students of Nagaland University Kohima Campus (Meriema) and the directorate of Higher Education over scholarship for undergraduate and post-graduate students, a scene resembling a protest was created by the former on Monday outside the directorate premises.

The gathering of the students under the banner of the Nagaland University Students’ Union (NUSU) Kohima Campus on the streets had alerted the police as it was learned that the NUSU did not obtain permission from the district administration to assemble or stage protest.

NUSU president later clarified that the students did not gather with intention to protest but when the union executives were in a meeting with the department officials, the students had started shouting slogans demanding their scholarship, ‘eventually portraying a wrong scenario.’ However, no untoward incident was reported.

“We only wanted to seek clarification on the delay of our scholarship as this issue comes up every year,” an NUSU official said.

When queried, it was learnt that the directorate of Higher Education was yet to receive a form containing the list of students (Annexure 4) for the year 2017-18 with regard to seven academic departments. NUSU claimed that the university had submitted the required documents but during the meeting, the union was made to understand that the department has received the Annexure 4 of only the English department out of eight.

The official from the NU, a dealing assistant, who supposedly submitted the ‘Annexure 4’ for all the eight academic departments both in ‘hard and soft copies’ as claimed by the NUSU, is stated to be on leave currently. Following a prolonged meeting, the NUSU and department officials have agreed to wait for the NU staff to return and shed light on the matter.

In the meantime, the department assured that it would re-verify all the documents. In the event that any mistake or overlooking was detected on the part of the department, the department officials informed they will send a proposal to the state government for additional fund to given to the beneficiaries.

The NUSU president informed that the student body, NU staff and the department would be having another meeting on Tuesday. The reason as to whose shortcoming led to the delay in disbursement of students’ scholarships is expected to be cleared then.