• No response despite repeated appeals to DoSE
• ZAPO, Village Councils and Adhoc Town Committee demands immediate intervention
Phek, September 9 (MExN): The lone high school within the Zuketsa administrative jurisdiction consisting of four villages and one township has reportedly been facing acute shortage of teachers for years.
The Government High School (GHS) Zuketsa is the area’s only high school which caters to five feeder schools, namely- Government Middle School (GMS) Zapami, GMS Lasumi, GMS Leshemi, GPS Lewoza and Living Christian School Zuketsa Adhoc Town.
The school’s hardships with regard to acute shortage of teachers and prolonged non-posting of Headmaster and Assistant Headmaster were highlighted on September 9 by the Zuketsa Area Public Organisation (ZAPO), Village Councils of Zapami, Lasumi, Leshemi and Lewoza with Zuketsa Adhoc Town Committee.
“Despite repeated appeals to the Department of School Education, Nagaland for posting of Headmaster, Assistant Headmaster and Subject Teachers, no response has been forthcoming till date,” they stated.
As per the statement, the last Headmaster in GHS Zuketsa was transferred in May 2020 while the Assistant Headmaster retired in January 2019 and other teachers have “either retired or transferred out and no replacements have been given by the department.”
They accounted that the GT English Teacher retired in 2018 while the Hindi teacher retired in 2020. A Graduate Teacher (GT) who was upgraded as a Post Graduate Teacher (PGT) was transferred out in 2020. Another Math teacher resigned in 2020 while a GT SS expired in 2020.
At present, the school is managed by 5 Graduate Teachers (GTs) and 3 Undergraduate Teachers (UGTs) without a Headmaster and Assistant Headmaster.
“Under such trying circumstances, the management of the school has been left to the mercy of existing teachers. This total injustice has ruined the future of many students in the past and which continues to be so even at present,” they asserted.
Due to the prevalent situation, the ZAPO, Village Councils of Zapami, Lasumi, Leshemi and Lewoza with Zuketsa Adhoc Town Committee said that they have sponsored and engaged private teachers since 2016 in order to assist the students. However, the department has turned a blind eye to the hardships faced by the students and the people of the area, they stated.
They observed that while some schools are functioning with excess number of teachers, schools like GHS Zuketsa have been sidelined and made to suffer total negligence of the department.
Questioning who is to be blamed for the poor performance of the school, they also highlighted that each year, the enrolment of students has been thinning out as parents have lost confidence.
In this regard, they requested the State Government and the Department of School Education to urgently post a Headmaster, Assistant Headmaster and subject teachers in the GHS.
The rights of education to students must not be taken for granted in any manner, they stated.
While assuring the State Government of full community support and intervention as was done in the past, they also cautioned that the continual discrimination of the school by the government and the department “shall not be tolerated any further.”
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