GUWAHATI: The Nagaland government is seeking to uproot a practice that is deeply rooted in the Naga society. The state’s Directorate of School Education has zeroed in on 438 government teachers, found to have engaged substitutes to teach on their behalf, and directed them to report to their respective schools or face disciplinary action.
They have been also asked to take two photographs of them, one in front of the school, and another while taking a class, every working day until further direction. The photos have to be sent from their own email ids registered with the department.
Principal Director in the Directorate of School Education, Shanavas C, said these teachers were detected during a verification drive. The lists of them have been uploaded on the department’s website education.nagaland.gov.in.
Shanavas said the whole idea behind this is to prevent them from going back to old ways as a part of cleansing the education system. He warned that these erring teachers would face disciplinary action, including suspension or termination from service, in the event of their failure to comply with the directive.
Government teachers in the state are qualified. A section of them, mostly those who are from urban areas and posted in rural areas, tend to engage proxies by shelling out a portion of their salary which may range from 20% to 50%. The proxy teachers are usually local unemployed youth. While the practice ensured a livelihood for some, it adversely affected the quality of education in government schools as evident from their poor performance in board examinations.
During his stint in the state, former Governor PB Acharya had made a clarion call to do away with the system. He lamented that despite handsome salary and benefits provided by the state government, some teachers remained detached from their schools and engaged proxies, thereby causing great harm to society.