Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 14 Sep: The All East Kameng District Students’ Union (AEKDSU) has submitted a reminder to the state’s education department regarding the scarcity of subject teachers in the government schools of East Kameng district.
The union, which has been demanding posting of adequate subject teachers in the district since long, in its reminder submitted to the education commissioner on Monday reiterated that
“the absence of teachers is severely affecting the students of the district.”
“Though offline classes have resumed in the state, the situation for the students of East Kameng district continues to remain the same due to the lack of subject teachers. If this trend continues, some of the schools of East Kameng may even stop functioning soon,” AEKDSU general secretary Pritom Yangfo said on Tuesday.
Yangfo, who was addressing a press conference at the press club here, said that the AEKDSU has already submitted two representations to the state government in this regard, one each in 2019 and 2020, apprising it of the problems being faced by the students of the district.
“We also spoke to the education secretary on Monday and we were told that the situation is almost the same across the state when it comes to physics, science and chemistry teachers. We don’t understand why the government is not able to create these posts,” he said.
The government should focus more on such issues rather than sanctioning schemes, as the lack of quality teachers means lack of quality education, Yangfo added.
The AEKDSU also expressed resentment over the meddling of MLAs and ministers in the matter of transfer and posting of teachers.
“Our legislators and ministers, who prefer sending their children to other states for their studies, should stop interfering in matters related to the transfer and posting of teachers. Also, there are teachers who do not want to serve in the districts and only wish to remain in the capital. This trend has severely hampered the student-teacher ratio,” Yangfo said.
AEKDSU education secretary Sichi Sangdo said there are 10 senior and higher secondary schools in East Kameng and most of them are short of teachers, especially in the science stream.
“When the elections are around the corner, our politicians promise that special focus would be given to the health and education sectors. But where is that promise now? We are sure that it’s not just East Kameng but all the districts of the state are facing the same issue and this has to be resolved at the earliest,” Sangdo said.
He appealed to the government, particularly the politicians of East Kameng, to give importance to health and education as promised.
“There are more than a thousand science students in East Kameng who are waiting for subject teachers to be posted in the district. The future of these students lies in the hands of the government,” he said.
The AEKDSU has threatened to launch a series of democratic movements if the government fails to meet its demand.
