Ninety students of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) in Nyangno village, Pakke-Kessang district, organized a midnight march to protest against the shortage of subject teachers in the school. Class 11 and Class 12 students walked throughout the night, starting at 12 am on Sunday, covering more than 65 kilometres to reach Lemmi, the district headquarters, by Monday morning.
KGBV Nyangno is managed by the Sei Donyi Charitable Trust, based in Seppa, East Kameng, and currently has 13 full-time teachers.
The students were frustrated over the ongoing teacher shortage in the school. They were specifically demanding immediate posting of geography and political science teachers. This situation is particularly concerning as half of the academic session has already passed without these subject teachers.
The Education Department is reported to have recruited two new teachers, but they have not yet joined, which forced the students to take such a drastic step.
However, the appointments may be too little, too late, as students have already spent half the academic session without teachers for key subjects. Schools across the state have been hit hard by teacher shortages, and the government has yet to address the problem with an effective policy.
Need-based recruitment must be carried out to mitigate the issue. Moreover, such problems need to be resolved before the start of the school session – not in the middle of it. The latest episode by the students should make the department wake up.