Politicisation of education on with appointment of teachers

GUWAHATI, March 26: At a time when different quarters are demanding that the education system should be kept free from political interference, the state government has started appointing primary school teachers under the Operation Black Board (OBB) scheme with political interference and without following the norms of appointment. The process of appointing 7,000 primary school teachers for a period of one year is on but according to information available, the Government went ahead with the process despite opposition from senior bureaucrats. Official sources revealed that the decision to give the appointments was taken in a meeting held at the official residence of the Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta on a State holiday earlier this month. The meting was attended by the Education Minister Thaneswar Boro, Industrial Minister Gunin Hazarika, Chief Secretary, Finance Commissioner, Planning & Development Commissioner and senior officers of the education department. In that meeting, the Education Minister stressed the need for appointing 7,000 teachers under the OBB scheme of the Government of India under the 9th Five Year Plan. But the senior officers of the state government opposed the decision on the ground that time was too short to give the appointments before the declaration of the polls. They also pointed out that as the 9th Plan would come to an end after one year and as the Union government has already made it clear that the future liability of the teachers would have to be borne by the state government, it might not be feasible for the fund starved State to take the liability. One senior officer even mooted the idea of paying the existing teachers with the money available under the OBB scheme. However, the ministers struck to their stand and ultimately it was decided that it would be specifically mentioned in the appointment letters that the teachers would be appointed for a period of one year from April 1 and they would be paid a stipend of Rs 1800 per month. Accordingly, the education department was asked to prepare a Cabinet memorandum and the same was passed in the Cabinet the next day. As the people of the State became aware of the proposal to appoint teachers, there was a mad rush of unemployed youths to Dispur and long queues of job seekers were seen at the State secretariat and the MLA hostels. But the unfortunate part is that most of the youths queuing up at Dispur are not aware that the teachers would be appointed only for a period of one year and they have nothing to look ahead to after completion of one year in service. It is also alleged that certain unscrupulous persons also duped a fair number of unsuspecting youths with the lure of providing jobs as school teachers. Official sources said that the process followed by the Government to appoint school teachers is also not very clear. At the initial state, it was decided that the list prepared earlier would be used to give the appointments. But now constituency level committees headed by political leaders, particularly ministers, have been formed to select candidates. It is learnt that the legislators have a big say in selection of candidates and in some cases the MLAs have already submitted their own lists for appointment of candidates, which is a clear case of politicisation of the education system keeping the ensuing polls in mind. Moreover, till date the Government has not issued any advertisement for the appointment of school teachers under the OBB scheme. It may be mentioned here that political interference in the education system is nothing new in Assam as a large number of irregular appointments were given during the tenure of the previous Government also. Immediately after coming to power, the present Government formed the Monoharan Committee to look into the irregularities in appointment of teachers but apparently no action has been taken on the report of the committee or against the persons responsible for the irregular appointments. The All Assam Students' Union (AASU) has also been demanding that the education system should be kept free from political interference but till date the Government has not bothered to pay heed to the demand. Meanwhile, the Chief Election Commissioner MS Gill, during his recent visit to the State, said that the Government should not go for fresh appointment at a time when the elections are knocking at the door. He also directed that the newly appointed teachers should not be engaged in poll duties. Moreover, some serious irregularities in appointment of college teachers have also come to the surface. Official sources said that Assam has six Government colleges - Cotton College, Haflong College, Diphu College, Government Sanskrit College, Jorhat Science College and the Government Law College. Interestingly, arbitrary posting of teachers in the Government colleges resulted in serious problems for the colleges in the hill districts. Sources said that as many as 14 posts of teachers are lying vacant in the Diphu and Haflong colleges, while, in some departments of Cotton College, the number of teachers is much more than required as per the University Grants Commission prescribed norms. Sources said that the problem faced by the college of the hill districts can be solved to a great extent by rational posting of teachers but till date no step has been taken in this regard. Instead of going for rational posting of teachers, the Education Minister sent a list of candidates to be appointed as teachers to the department, but senior officers of the department opposed the move. Sources said that the teachers for the Government colleges should be selected through the Assam Public Service Commission but in this case, the list was prepared without going through the APSC or even without inviting any application. Sources revealed that some heads may roll in the education department as several senior officers refused to follow the instructions of the minister.