Shillong, Jan 18: Advocate Nazmul Hashan, President, Garo Hills Youth Organisation, (GHYO) has lodged complaints with the office of the Director of School education, Literacy, Chief Secretary, Commissioner and Secretary, Education Department, Directorate of Education Research and Training (DERT), on Thursday on the loopholes and ambiguities found in the MTET advertisement of April 2021.
The advocate wanted the government to scrap the advertisement immediately whereby stopping of teachers’ appointment in the government L.P. schools.
He said the selection/appointments of 18 months D.El.Ed. (Diploma in Elementary School) diploma course holders under NIOS (ODL) should be stopped following the Supreme Court order
“The 18 months diploma course was for the in-service teachers only, it was a window for the untrained in-service teachers only. Hence, 18 months D.El.Ed. diploma course holders under NIOS are not eligible for any fresh recruitment”, he said.
A Writ Petition, WP (C) No. 405 of 2023 was filed in the High Court of Meghalaya in relation to the D.El.Ed. diploma course holders of 18 months obtained through correspondence course, and as per the order of the Supreme Court, they are ineligible for selection and thereupon an appropriate order is sought to be passed from the High Court. But the shortlist of the candidates and the final selection (result) list of the candidates of Dadenggre Sub-Division was declared even after the writ petition was filed in the court and as such, on a sub-judice matter, the selection result of candidates of Dadenggre Sub-Division was declared ignoring the High Court order.
Sub-Division like Ampati, South West Garo Hills also declared the result of MTET candidates after the court order.
As per replies to the RTI queries, there has been no recorded information available in the office record of NCTE for allowing 18 months D.El.Ed. diploma course holders under NIOS to appear for MTET.
“Hence, there is no order or direction issued to the State of Meghalaya from the NCTE for allowing 18 months D.El.Ed. diploma course holders under NIOS to appear in the said MTET and thereby appointing them in the elementary schools in the state of Meghalaya is a violation of the NCTE norm/rules/guidelines/notifications and it is against certain directives and resolutions of the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India”‘ he said.
The Supreme Court held that 18 months Diploma is a window for in-service teachers to complete their course prior to 1st April 2019 and as such the order with regard to 18 months D.El.Ed. holders is passed, he said.
“It is not surprising to mention that as many as 506 lower primary school teachers in Meghalaya have lost their jobs because of an education scam that hit the northeastern Indian state 15 years ago. In the case of education scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had found irregularities in the recruitment of selection process in the state of Meghalaya wherein inquiry was imposed in some Sub-Divisions including Dadenggre Sub-Division for appointing teachers in the elementary schools, the government had terminated the service of 246 teachers. Later on, the CBI examined the remaining other 10 (ten) centers, the education department terminated the service of another batch of 260 teachers. The CBI had segregated both tainted and non-tainted teachers who were appointed allegedly through unfair means. The CBI report had pointed out that the majority of candidates were appointed in an irregular manner by changing their original marks on account of experience, educational qualification in the score-sheets by applying a white fluid (correction ink). It was a benchmark investigation and step taken by the CBI, first time in the Education department in the state of Meghalaya”, the advocate said.
Therefore, to avoid any irregularity or discrepancy or manipulation, 18 months D.El.Ed diploma holders are to be exempted from the selection process of MTET by the concerned department, he said.
“In view of the above facts and circumstances, it is therefore prayed to the concerned authorities that selection and appointment of 18 months D.El.Ed. diploma course holders under NIOS be stopped as government teachers in the elementary schools following the judgement of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and rules/guidelines/notifications of NCTE”, the advocate added.
