Halt recruitment process in ADCs: ATSUM
Source: Chronicle News Service

Kangpokpi, September 28 2021: All Tribal Students' Union, Manipur (ATSUM) has demanded the state government to immediately halt the ongoing direct recruitment process of 750 posts including 506 posts of primary teachers in six Autonomous District Councils (ADCs).

Speaking to media, ATSUM information and publicity secretary Khaiminlen Doungel said that the decision to demand immediate halt of the recruitment process was taken in continuation of the ATSUM's representation submitted to the chief minister, Tribal Affairs and Hills Department demanding consideration of mother tongue/local languages as an essential criterion for recruitment of primary teachers in all ADCs of Manipur and as recommended by the Hill Areas Committee for deferring the recruitment process till the election to the six ADCs is held and reconstituted.

He recalled that in consonance with the provisions of the Rights to Education Act 2009, National Curriculum Framework 2005 of NCERT, New Education Policy 2020, and Article 350A of the Indian Constitution which envisaged for facilitating mother tongue/local languages of children as a medium of instruction in primary schools, ATSUM had submitted a representation to the CM, Tribal Affairs and Hills Department on July 10, 2020, demanding consideration of mother tongue/local languages as essential criteria for recruitment of primary teachers in all ADCs of Manipur but the representation of ATSUM was deliberately side-lined by the Secretariat Hills Department.

"The state government's decision to conduct recruitment in the absence of an elected body demonstrated the desperate attempt of the state government to degrade the ADCs," Khaiminlen emphasised.

He reiterated that the state government should immediately halt the ongoing recruitment process of 750 posts in the six ADCs until the ADC election is conducted and knowledge of the local language/dialect of children is included as an essential criterion for recruitment of the primary teachers.

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