[ Badak Yomgam ]
Recent administrative decisions regarding recruitment and skill development have created a significant disconnect between government policy and the current state of educational institutions. While the state administration introduces international language programmes and specialised teacher recruitment, the foundational issues of the teaching community remain unresolved.
Selective language recruitment and linguistic disparity
The state government has initiated the recruitment of trained graduate teachers (TGT) and primary teachers (PRT) specifically for the Bhoti language. While this serves certain regions, the decision to prioritise one minority language sidelines the majority indigenous languages spoken throughout the state.
Decisions regarding linguistic heritage and educational priorities should not be decided only by the current administration, nor by administrative officials. These choices impact the cultural identity of all citizens and require a transparent process with public consensus. By focusing on a single language for permanent post creation, the administration has ignored the broader linguistic diversity of the state.
The recruitment process outlined in Gazette Notification No 109 reveals several critical omissions. Most notably, the advertisement lacks a mandatory Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) requirement for these permanent posts, which contradicts national NCTE norms and the Right to Education Act. Furthermore, the marking scheme provided in the Gazette Notification No 109, Rule 3, establishes a highly skewed weightage that prioritises specific language knowledge over general teaching proficiency. According to the Marking Scheme Rule:
# Written examination: 450 marks
# Concerned subject (Bhoti): 300 marks
# General English: 100 marks
# General knowledge: 50 marks
# Viva voce and classroom teaching: 50 marks
# Total: 500 marks
This 300 marks allocation for a single subject out of a 450 mark written paper creates a significant bias. It allows candidates to qualify based on language alone, while failing to assess their pedagogical skills or general teaching aptitude. Additionally, the inclusion of a 50 mark viva voce and classroom teaching segment introduces a high level of subjectivity, allowing for administrative discretion that may not reflect the actual merit of the candidates.
The crisis of SSA teacher regularisation
There is a glaring contradiction in the government’s current human resource management. Thousands of SSA (ISSE) teachers have served on a contractual basis for nearly two decades. These teachers are fully qualified and have cleared the TET.
The government often cites lack of vacancies and budget constraints as reasons for not regularising these experienced educators. However, the recent creation of new permanent posts for specialised languages proves that resources and vacancies are available when the administration chooses to prioritise them. This policy ignores the service of long term contractual staff in favour of new, narrow recruitment.
Foreign language training and resource allocation
The Department of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has launched training programmes for Japanese and German languages. The government is currently sponsoring 70% of the training costs to prepare youths for employment in foreign healthcare and caregiving sectors.
While this aims to address unemployment, it represents a shift in resources away from the domestic school system. The state is investing heavily in exporting human capital to foreign countries while local government schools continue to suffer from lack of permanent staff and inadequate infrastructure.
Challenges in full implementation of NEP 2020
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 requires a stable foundation of permanent teachers and a universal approach to mother tongue education. While the government claims to be moving towardsfull implementation across all levels by 2030, the current administrative approach is fragmented.
By hiring specialised teachers before resolving the status of existing PRT and TGT cadres, the government is bypassing the core requirements of the policy. Full implementation should prioritise the regularisation of the existing workforce to ensure a stable environment for students before introducing specialised or foreign language tracks.
Conclusion and public accountability
The current administrative trajectory prioritises international placements and selective language recruitment over the regularisation of the existing teaching workforce. If the state has the financial capacity to sponsor foreign visas and create new specialised posts, it has the capacity to regularise the SSA teachers who have sustained the education system for years. A statewide roadmap for all indigenous languages is necessary to ensure that no majority group is sidelined by top down administrative decisions. (The writer is an independent observer)
