Imlisanen Jamir
The Nagaland School Education Department needs more impetus in its drive to address this strange scenario the state’s education sector finds itself in, in terms of the availability of teachers for government schools of the State.
Over just the past week, two instances of the long-existing teacher shortage problem peeked their head onto the public sphere once again.
The first was the Eastern Sumi Students’ Union (ESSU) reporting that some government schools in Aghunato are facing an acute shortage of teachers and expressing dismay at the School Education Department and the State Government for “poor management system.”
Then, on May 10, over 500 students in the Tzurangkong area of Mokokchung district embarked on a procession to protest the lack of response from the concerned department over the shortage of teachers in the Tzurangkong area.
This shortage in government schools, especially in the remote areas of Nagaland, has been a gripe for years now. This is despite the fact that Nagaland has about 10,000 excess teachers, according to a revelation by the Nagaland Chief Minister during the assembly session in November 2021.
One reason for this problem apparently arises from the fact that there are some schools with no enrolment but teachers are deployed, and in some schools there are more teachers than students.
Another, and perhaps more worrying, is that there just aren’t enough qualified people to take the jobs which are vacant. The Chief Minister stated that while the teacher to student ratio is “very good,” subject teachers are not available, particularly in Mathematics and Science.
As of November 2021, there are 188 vacancies for teaching posts, out of which there are 112 vacancies for science teachers and 76 for mathematics teachers. And it is not just teaching posts that are left unattended. According to Minister Tongpang Ozukum during the same assembly session, there were 300 vacancies for assistant headmasters. He added that there is even a shortage of education officers at the district level.
As disheartening as that may seem, the scene looks bleaker while considering the problem of proxy teachers, the ever present problem of backdoor appointments, and the disclosure by the School Education Advisor himself that a “huge chunk” of government school teachers in Nagaland are “untrained,” and worryingly “un-trainable.” According to him, the State Government has moved a proposal to the Government of India to provide a ‘golden handshake’ for such “un-trainable” teachers.
As per the government, exercises are underway to address this issue. However, as evidenced by the recent protests, the problem perhaps does not have a quick fix. Meanwhile, students remain the ultimate losers.
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