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DIMAPUR — The Yimkhiung Akherü Arihako (YAA), the apex student body in the Yimkhiung area, is gearing up for its agitation against the state Directorate of School Education (DoSE) over its failure to address the shortage of teachers in government schools.
In response, Principal Director of School Education, Thavaseelan K, informed that the government is actively addressing the concerns raised by the YAA but requires additional time for the rationalisation of teachers.
The principal director told Eastern Mirror that the YAA has been informed about the government’s effort, and that the department needs more time to “rationalise the teacher for the whole state and not just for a single jurisdiction,” thus requesting the YAA to wait for some more time.
He also mentioned an upcoming meeting with the NSF, ENSF, and all its federating units on Feb. 6, during which the department will explain the problems it is facing and the measures it is taking to address them.
According to the official, there are excess general teachers in the state but a shortage of maths and science teachers, and ‘not a single district in the state has enough maths and science teachers.’
He assured that the department is working on the issue as well, and said that the rationalisation for science and maths teachers is over, but the others will take a little more time.
“By February, we should be able to finish all of it,” he said.
On the other hand, an executive member of the YAA stated that their agitation would commence as planned, as the ultimatum given to the DoSE has expired.
We have put up our demand, and the ultimatum has expired, so the protest will begin, he asserted.
He shared that there are about 90 government schools under the YAA, which covers Shamator district as well as parts of Tuensang and Kiphire districts and said that the organisation has closed the admissions process in government schools in their area.
It may be mentioned that the YAA submitted an ultimatum to the School Education department on Jan. 18 to redress the shortage of teachers within 14 days. Subsequently, it announced on Jan. 31 that no government offices would be allowed to open or function except for the NST, administration, home/police, paramilitary, and medical departments. It also restricted the movement of government registered vehicles and prohibited tourists from visiting any of the sites in the region.
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