Meghalaya leader of Opposition and former chief minister Mukul Sangma, on Tuesday, wrote a letter to education minister Lahkmen Rymbui urging him to fill up the vacancies of school teachers in the state.
In his letter to the Meghalaya education minister, Mukul Sangma, said the lower primary (LP) schools in the state have become defunct due to non-appointment of teachers.
Mukul Sangma said the state government would fill up the vacancies of teachers only after declaring the results of the Meghalaya Teachers Eligibility Test (MTET).
In the letter to Rymbui, the former Meghalaya CM said he had spoken to the director of elementary and mass education and literacy and was surprised to find out that there has been a direction from the state government that no appointment should be made on ad hoc basis/temporary basis.
Sangma said the elementary education department now would not make any appointment on ad hoc or temporary basis to fill up the existing vacancies of teachers since the government intends to fill up the vacancies only after the declaration of the MTET results.
“I am deeply disturbed to learn that lower primary schools in the state have become completely defunct due to non-appointment of teachers,” said the former Meghalaya CM.
“I was informed by representatives of different school managing committees that till date, after the beginning of this academic year, no teachers have reported in many of the schools resulting in great confusion among the parents and the villagers as a whole,” Sangma said.
Urging the state government to fill up the vacancies of teachers so that the academic session of the affected schools can resume immediately, the leader of Opposition sought Rymbui’s immediate attention and action into this matter.
“This matter relates to our commitment and our obligations and responsibilities thereof to fulfil the provision of Article 21A of the Constitution and the resultant legislation – RTE Act 2009 in the best interest of our children coming from poor and vulnerable families in particular, and all our beloved children and future generations in general,” Mukul Sangma added.
The state government stopped the appointment of teachers on ad hoc/temporary basis as it wanted to appoint teachers who have passed the MTET examination.