ITANAGAR, 1 Nov: The All Nyishi Students’ Union (ANSU) on Monday reiterated the 14-point demand relating to the education sector in Nyishi-inhabited districts, which it had submitted to the education minister twice, on 11 and 31 August.
Addressing the media at the press club here on Monday, ANSU general secretary Gora Rikam said that the union has been pushing the 14-point demand for many months “but there has been no relative outcome from the education department yet.”
“Despite assurance by the education minister and direction issued to the education department to come out with a solution, the education commissioner has been repeatedly ignoring the matter,” he said.
The union accused Education Commissioner Niharika Rai of being incompetent, and demanded that she be transferred from the state within 15 days.
It also sought dropping of a case registered against the union.
Stating that Rai also holds various other designations in the education department, Rikam questioned “the state government’s approach to bless a single officer with a range of other posts in the education department.”
“We have many local officers who are capable of holding other posts, like that of secretary, commissioner and other subordinates in the education department. Why not encourage them, instead of gracing a single officer with numerous posts,” he said, adding that Rai “is inefficient, careless and negligent
in delivering rights to the students.”
Highlighting the union’s second demand, Rikam informed that a central executive team of the ANSU had a meeting scheduled with the chief minister regarding the 14-point demand in September. However, while entering the state civil secretariat premises, the team members got into a disagreement and a squabble with the police on duty.
“The matter was amicably resolved after the meeting with the CM, but unfortunately, a couple of days later, the union received a call, informing about an FIR registered against the union by the deputy superintendent of police (security, civil secretariat),” Rikam said.
He described the FIR registered against the union as “malicious, concocted and fabricated without any iota of truth,” adding that “the FIR itself is an attempted action to frame the executive members by inviting them to the office of the CM.”
ANSU vice president Rahim Yangfo said that the union would not compromise with the lackadaisical attitude of the state government over its demands. “The demands of the union should be made reality within the deadline or face a series of democratic movements,” he said.
The 14-point demand that the union placed before the CM include immediate cancellation of tender for procurement and supply of school uniforms by the director of secondary education; corpus fund for teachers’ welfare for every school of the state, including Nyishi-inhabited areas, to carry out curriculum activities; immediate recruitment of TGTs/PGTs against sanctioned vacant posts; revocation of the DBT system or creation of a better system as the DBT system is not working properly across the state; introduction of uniformity of school fees for various private schools; closure of all zero enrolment schools; proper utilization of infrastructure for better purposes, etc.