Dr Asangba Tzudir
About a year ago, the All Nagaland School Teachers Association (ANSTA) asked the school education department to punish teachers who give them a bad name by hiring proxies or substitutes. Subsequently, the department issued notice to teachers who employ substitutes in their place of posting to immediately report to their respective schools and strongly added that failure to comply with the directive could lead to termination of service.
During a verification drive in October-November 2019, 438 teachers from different districts were found guilty. The erring teachers were also asked to submit two photographs every working day to the department’s official email– one in front of the school and the other while teaching in a classroom. In addition, the department also found that some government school teachers were doing private jobs. As per reports, following this exercise, 12 teachers have been detected who were still involved in the unethical practice, and severe penalties were imposed, which included recovery of salary paid during the period of dual employment coupled with a reduction in pay scale.
Today, by way of cracking the whip on those keeping proxy teachers and other issues, the school education department has ‘tightened the noose’ on schools and teachers involved in unethical practices. The department’s whip may help curtail such unethical practices. Still, total eradication of unethical practices can only happen when it becomes a citizen’s responsibility, which goes by the principle of ‘duty for duty sake’ and not for anything else or means. In the latest move, the Confederation of Chang Students Union has notified that “it will not entertain proxy teachers under its purview under any circumstances” and has asked all teachers to return to their place of posting on or before March 5. On the whole, it is not merely an ethical question but a professional question in delivering a duty to which one has been called.
Moving on, while education and its system is a pertinent marker of any civilized society, the focus has primarily been on schools and particularly on teachers highlighting all the ignobility within a profession that is considered noble.
Over the years, too much attention has been thrown, particularly on School education and teachers, as if the School education department is the only department that is indulged in unethical practices. Why should such whip be applied only to school teachers? Not far behind is the PWD department.
While the education department is concerned mainly about proxy teachers, what about other departments where there may be ghost employment or dual employment, or those ‘blessed group’ only drawing salary directly from their bank accounts without working. It is no wonder that a sum of Rs. 5,49,141.64 lakhs (27.99% of total estimated budget expenditure) was spent on salary-related expenditure in 2019-20. It is high time that a physical verification drive is done to bring out those indulged in unethical practices. And knowing the ‘comfortably normalized system,’ unless these issues are taken up collectively by everyone without scratching each other’s back below the table, such unethical practices will continue to remain a ‘normalised condition.’
(Dr Asangba Tzudir contributes a weekly guest editorial to The Morung Express. Comments can be emailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
