Lack of teachers in government schools in the state especially in subjects considered to be of enormous academic importance is a nagging issue which till date hasn’t seen a comprehensive solution. Although there have been news of occasional protests originating in innumerable pockets across the state due to this, resorting to bandh call, that too by the students themselves as the last weapon to draw attention of the authority has been rare. That happened on Friday in Jengging Block in Upper Siang district which will surely cause discomfort to the Education Department in particular and the state government as well, now engrossed in giving final touches to the Annual State Budget. The bandh is a reminder to the state that there is an urgent need for doing more for the education sector and the emphasis necessarily should be on the foundational layer which is school education. Arunachal must not only spend more on it, but should also make sure of its judicious utilization.
The remarkable aspect of the bandh called by the students of GHSS, Jengging was that it was totally successful even without any organised political support. The reasons that compelled them to go for this drastic step and the local people supporting it are known to all. Invariably, it must have been preceded by a series of representations for posting of subject teachers, but without any effect. It’s most unfortunate that students want to learn but are unable to do so just for the lack of teachers and across the state, it’s a uniform and distinctive feature. This fundamental flaw is aggravated further by the perpetual continuance of deficiencies of the other ‘basics’ such as the bare essentials a school ought to possess, i.e. infrastructure. This too, is chronic across the state and time and again the student unions as well as the CBOs of the state have been vocal in highlighting it. While the students are the recipients of the blame for their performances in board exams, year in and year out, there is a tendency of overlooking the root causes that are the above in every such occasion. The private schools are the better performers in terms of yearly results only since the basics are okay there. The Teachers’ Transfer and Posting Policy 2020 for rationalising and providing teachers wherever needed has come into being and doubling of efforts is needed for its letter and spirit implementation across the state. The New Education Policy (NEP) of the Centre has been hailed as a historic step for transforming the Indian education system where a striking feature is the inclusive approach. However, if the state continues to lag behind the rest of the country like now, it will remain outside its bandwidth indefinitely.
The budget, hopefully allots more for this crying need.

 

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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