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Editor,<\/strong><\/p>\n It is heartening to see the education department\u2019s leadership celebrate its achievements and milestones in public. However, before the bouquets are distributed, it may be instructive to hold these claims against ground realities \u2014 particularly since reservations have already been expressed in this very forum.<\/p>\n A letter cap-tioned\u00a0\u2018Who pays the price for governance over- haul?\u2019,\u00a0published in the readers\u2019 forum of this newspaper on 11 March. 2026 raised pointed questions about the sincerity and actual impact of measures such as the new transfer and posting policy. Those concerns remain unanswered.<\/p>\n The education minister has been generous with interviews and polished pronouncements. The question the public is entitled to ask is: how sincere and committed is the leadership of the education department \u2014 comprising the minister, the commissioner, the secretary and the four directorates \u2014 to actual reform, as opposed to its optics? Paperwork and press statements are no substitute for ground-level action. In that spirit, the following matters demand the department\u2019s urgent attention:<\/p>\n \n The readers\u2019 forum of this daily, dated 4 March, 2026, highlighted teachers \u2014 from DDSEs and principals down to BEOs and PRTs \u2014 who allegedly hold educational certificates obtained through illegal means. A representation based on this report was subsequently submitted to the office of the minister, but credible information suggests that certain officers named in the complaint personally intervened to ensure that the letter was misplaced and never reached the dealing assistant\u2019s table. This is not negligence \u2014 it is obstruction, and it smacks of institutional collusion. The department cannot in good conscience speak of promoting merit in the classroom while turning a blind eye to \u2014 and, worse, actively shielding \u2014 fake degree holders within its own ranks. It is reported that one or two DDSEs presently posted in districts hold certificates from the now-notorious CMJ University and have been promoted without adequate scrutiny. A thorough vetting of the educational qualifications of all education department employees is not merely desirable; it is an institutional imperative. Merit in education must begin with the parent body.<\/p>\n \n At a time when the shortage of teachers in schools and colleges is a subject of widespread public concern, a significant number of lecturers and school teachers continue to serve as OSDs or remain attached to bhavans in Delhi, Kolkata and elsewhere, or are posted within the offices of the DDSE, SPD, DSE, and DEE \u2014 far from any classroom. This is unconscionable and must be rectified immediately.<\/p>\n \n Many retired teachers and staff members continue to occupy positions in offices long after their superannuation, ostensibly on one pretext or another. The underlying reason, it is widely believed, is that competent and self-respecting tribal employees will not readily bend to the whims of those in power, while retired individuals \u2014 dependent on goodwill for their continued presence \u2014 are more pliable. It is worth recalling that even Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, one of the greatest scientific minds this nation has produced, gracefully vacated his position in due course. No one is indispensable, and the routine administrative work of the education department is certainly not rocket science. When a person retires, they deserve a graceful farewell \u2014 and their vacancy should be filled by the qualified unemployed youths of the state.<\/p>\n \n The procurement of furniture, school uniforms, computers, textbooks, and sports items for the education department appears to be concentrated in the hands of a select few contractors and suppliers. Equal opportunity is not being extended to the many deserving and qualified young entrepreneurs of the state. This tendency has reportedly intensified during the tenure of the current education minister and warrants immediate scrutiny and corrective action.<\/p>\n \n Despite the passage of considerable time, no meaningful action has been taken against the DDSEs and other employees implicated in the infamous teachers\u2019 and MTS recruitment racket associated with the retired director of elementary education Tapi Gao. The silence of the department on this matter is deafening.<\/p>\n \n Similarly, employees of the education department involved in the APPSC irregularities remain in service without consequence. Their files reportedly languish unaccounted for, while the inquiry process has effectively stalled. This is a betrayal of every honest candidate who appeared for those examinations.<\/p>\n \n Transfer orders issued for teachers are selectively enforced \u2014 cancelled or softened under pressure from influential quarters for those with political connections, while teachers without such backing are compelled to comply strictly. This double standard demoralises the rank and file and corrodes the very institutional integrity that genuine reform seeks to build.<\/p>\n \n For over four to five years now, the appointment of block education officers (BEOs) has remained a festering grievance, yet the department has failed to resolve it. It is widely alleged that juniors have been appointed to BEO positions in brazen disregard of the seniority principle, thereby depriving deserving senior employees of their rightful due. This injustice has been allowed to persist with impunity. The remedy is straightforward and admits of no ambiguity: those appointed out of turn must be reverted to their substantive positions without further delay. Additionally, those among the appointees found to hold fake or irregularly obtained educational certificates must be summarily terminated, as was done in the case of the 41 CWSN resource teachers whose services were dispensed with upon detection of document fraud.<\/p>\n Thereafter, regular appointments to BEO posts must be made strictly in accordance with seniority, giving deserving seniors their long-overdue recognition. Four to five years is far too long for so elementary a matter of administrative justice to remain unresolved.<\/p>\n \n Perhaps the most glaring evidence of administrative breakdown is the appointment of personnel to posts that either do not exist or bear no rational connection to the needs of the institution. Two instances deserve specific mention.<\/p>\n First, physical education teachers (PETs) – whose skills and services are urgently required in schools across the state \u2014 are being posted to directorate offices where they serve no educational purpose whatsoever. Their deployment in administrative offices, while schools go without physical education instruction, is both a waste of specialised human resources and a disservice to students.<\/p>\n Second, and far more seriously, it has come to light that a PET is appointed as an assistant director of school education (ADSE). This post is not merely vacant or frozen \u2014 it was formally abolished and subsumed into other posts as far back as 17 August, 2017, under an order jointly signed by no less than the then chief secretary Shakuntala Gamlin, education commissioner Hage Kojeen, and PWD commissioner B Pertin. This is a matter of public record and may readily be verified. The appointment of an individual to a post that was legally extinguished nine years ago is not a clerical oversight \u2014 it is a serious irregularity that raises questions about who authorised it and on what basis. Such an act, if confirmed, would constitute a fundamental breach of service rules and administrative propriety.<\/p>\n Taken together, these instances of mismatched and illegal appointments reflect not isolated lapses but a systemic breakdown of oversight, accountability, and basic administrative discipline within the education department. They demand immediate investigation and remedial action.<\/p>\n Finally, and most tellingly, if reform is real, let it be demonstrated first in the home district of the education minister, which has \u2014 by all available academic indicators \u2014 performed poorly in the past several years. Improved educational outcomes in his own constituency would be the most compelling evidence that Passang Dorjee Sona is indeed a leader who walks the talk. Almost half his tenure has elapsed. The second half offers an opportunity. The people of Arunachal Pradesh \u2014 many of whom genuinely believe he is well-suited for the responsibilities he holds \u2014 are watching, and waiting.<\/p>\n LT Anthony, Chimpu<\/strong><\/p>\n & Nobin Taba, Itanagar<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Editor, It is heartening to see the education department\u2019s leadership celebrate its achievements and milestones in public. However, before the bouquets are distributed, it may be instructive to hold these claims against ground realities \u2014 particularly since reservations have already been expressed in this very forum. A letter cap-tioned\u00a0\u2018Who pays the price for governance over- […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-279875","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-readers-forum"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279875"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":279887,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279875\/revisions\/279887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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