[ Amar Sangno ]
ITANAGAR, 24 Jul: In a major shake-up, the Education Department on 20 July issued transfer orders to 203 teachers.
Among them are 138 trained graduate teachers (TGT), 52 primary teachers (PRT), 10 postgraduate teachers (PGT) and three physical education teachers (PET).
It is said that the en masse transfer of teachers is one of the major components of Education Minister Passang Dorjee Sona’s ambitious educational reformation mission, ‘Three-year Education Roadmaps for Mission Shikshit Arunachal-2029’.
“The rationalization of teachers’ transfer and posting is a major part of our Mission Shikshit Arunachal-2029. I hope all stakeholders, including public representatives, community leaders, student leaders, and media colleagues will cooperate with and appreciate our reformative initiative,” said Sona.
Sona added that he has strictly instructed that sufficient number of teachers should be posted to schools in rural areas.
Teachers posted in ‘soft belts’ like the Itanagar Capital Region (ICR), Papum Pare district, Pasighat (E/Siang) and West Siang district have been transferred to remote districts, considered ‘hard belts’.
Sixty-seven teachers from East Siang district, more than 60 teachers from the ICR, 35 from West Siang district, 13 from Papum Pare district, and nine from Lower Siang district have been transferred to remote areas and districts like Anini, Anjaw, Shi-Yomi, Kurung Kumey, Tirap and Changlang.
Among the transferred teachers, 10 have been assigned non-teaching works. Among them are seven TGTs, two PRTs and one TGT. Out of 10 teachers assigned to non-teaching works, six teachers have been attached to the DDSE office in Yupia, two teachers have been attached to the ISSE Samagara Shikhsa office in Itanagar, one has been attached to the DDSE office in Aalo, and one has been attached to the ICR DDSE office.
The current en masse transfer and posting of teachers is one of the boldest moves under PD Sona’s ministership. It is learnt that the transfer order has already created hue and cry across a section of the society. Sona is reportedly getting a considerable number of desperate calls from ministers and MLA colleagues for retention of their near and dear ones.
Sona repeatedly pleaded with the respective MLAs on the floor of the Assembly to cooperate with his rationalisation of teachers’ transfer and posting, terming it a foundational, reformative step towards overhauling the state’s education scenario.
Under his ‘Three-year Education Roadmaps for Mission Shikshit Arunachal-2029′, Sona has focused on four pillars to reform the education department. These are strengthening competency-based learning; enhancing teachers’ and system officials’ capacity; improving educational infrastructure; and optimising human resources.
The state has a teaching workforce of 23,224, including 10,011 regular and 5,391 contractual teachers across 3,496 schools in 28 districts, with a total enrolment of 2.72 lakh students.