Shortage of teachers in many schools: Min

ITANAGAR, Aug 30: Education Minister Honchun Ngandam on Thursday said in the state assembly that there was shortage of teachers in many schools, but attributed it to political interference.
The minister appealed to the legislators not to interfere in transferring and posting of teachers in the greater interest of the student community of the state.
Ngandam was responding to a discussion in the assembly. Earlier, Nationalist People’s Party (NPP) MLA Tirong Aboh had alleged that majority of the teachers were transferred from Tirap district without sending relievers.
Aboh said 20 primary schools in Tirap district are being run by single teachers while 254 schools in the state are non-functional.
The NPP legislator urged the government for rationalization of transfer and posting of teachers, so that every school gets the required number of teachers.
The minister, however, disclosed that there was no mass transfer in recent times.
However, during 2017, the department proposed to transfer teachers from those schools having excess teachers to schools with deficit, but had to halt the process due to half-yearly examinations.
“There are 252 excess teachers in Papum Pare district alone, but they could not be transferred due to political interference,” he said.
Informing that 1300 posts of subject teachers have already been created, Ngandam said the process of recruitment would be started soon by the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC).
“The APPSC is likely to conduct the examination by September next and the teachers will be appointed on need-based,” the minister said, adding that the state government has decided to close down all the zero-enrollment schools in the state after verification and teachers from such schools would be appointed in other schools. (PTI)