Tobu Area Students’ Union calls for public rally over acute shortage of teachers; to seal SDEO

DIMAPUR — The Tobu Area Students’ Union (TASU) along with the civil society organisations (CSOs) has resolved to hold a mass rally at Tobu headquarters on August 24 and seal the Sub-Divisional Education Office (SDEO) to protest shortage of teachers in government schools.

This decision was taken at an emergency meeting called by the TASU with its federating units and other CSOs on Tuesday, said a press release from TASU.

Expressing disappointment over the failure of the School Education department the district administration to address the concern raised by the student community, Village Education Committee and village councils regarding the shortage of teachers across the Sub-Division even after repeatedly submitting letters to the concern authority, the TASU said the SDEO Office Tobu will be sealed until the department meets its demand.

It said the concerned authority will be held solely responsible if any untoward circumstances arise.

Out of many schools facing shortage of subject teachers in the sub-division, the TASU said it had raised concern for only three schools, namely: Government Middle School (GMS) Shamnyu-A, which currently has seven classrooms (PP to Class 6) with 122 students (52 boys and 70 girls) and is run by only two teachers; Government Primary School (GPS) Pessao-B, which has six classrooms (PP to Class 4) with 104 students (50 boys and 54 girls) and is run by only two teachers; and GMS Shamnyu, which has five classrooms (PP to Class 3) with an enrolment of 111 students (58 boys and 53 girls) and is also run by only two teachers.

Besides the letter submitted by the VEC and village councils, the TASU said it had served a 15-day ultimatum to the department on June 30 this year to immediately post teachers in the three schools and also submitted a letter to the chairman of SDPDB during the board’s monthly meeting on August 4, saying that it wouldn’t attend the meeting if their demand was overlooked.

Despite all these, the union said the department and the administration have not given any positive response, thus undermining the rights of students and compromising the future of the innocent students.

It also claimed that the SDEO Tobu is “not functional” with no sight of senior officers or staff who can address the student community’s issues.

It alleged that “majority of the staff” attend the office only during the national events and monthly board meetings and no implementation of various education policies.

Owing to these reasons, it said an emergency meeting was called on Tuesday, wherein a decision was taken to initiate agitation.

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