School Fagathansi Mission and shortage of teachers : The twain shall not meet
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 03, 2022 -

School Fagathansi Mission and acute shortage of teachers on the other hand and certainly these two do not jell at all.

This seems to be what is happening at Moirangpurel High School, with the students now constrained to come out and stage protest against the acute shortage of teachers in the said school.

Ironic it is but it was from this same school that the School Fagathansi Mission was launched by Chief Minister N Biren in 2020 and fast forward two years and today students are forced to come out from their classrooms and protest the shortage of teachers.

Students protesting shortage of teachers obviously runs contrary to the understanding of improving Government run schools, which the School Fagathansi Mission is all about and one hopes that the matter is tackled with a sense of urgency and sincerity.

The statistics should say it all. As reported, the school is divided into two sections-primary level and high school level.

This is where it is disturbing to note that there are no teachers at all at the primary level which caters to the needs of about 200 students.

The situation is no better at the high school level, which has about 500 students but only 8 teachers.

Expecting one Headmaster to look after the primary as well as high school section of the institution is akin to asking a man to sail on two boats at the same time and this is far from the understanding of the mission taken up by the State Government to improve Government schools.

Granted, one RMSA teacher and four SSA teachers are currently staying away from work due to the ongoing cease work strike called by a teachers’ organisation, but yet the number itself says something significant and this is not exactly what the doctor would prescribe to give that cutting edge competency to a school.

The School Fagathansi Mission was taken up with a purpose in mind and that is to improve the performance of students from Government schools, especially in the Class X and Class XII board exams.

And this calling should not be lost in the din of the slogan kicked up by the School Fagathansi Mission.

Every year Government schools make it to the news for all the wrong reasons, especially at the time when the Class X and Class XII exam results are declared, and the campaign was obviously launched to make up for the pathetic show that Government schools have been dishing out each year at the Class X and Class XII level, but when students are constrained to come out from their classrooms and protest the shortage of teachers at their school one may well ask what has happened to the mission.

Rationalise the transfer and posting of teachers. This is a call which numerous student organisations have been raising for years and given the pathetic student-teacher ratio at the said school, not much seems to have been done. The Government should take note of this.

At the moment, it is but one school which has made it to the news for all the wrong reasons and there is no reason not to believe that there would not be other schools facing the same situation.

How about Government schools located in the hill districts and remote areas of the State ? Technically they may not be under the State Government, but how about the schools that run under the ADCs in the hill districts ?

A look at the Council schools will also go a long way in revealing the status of education in Government run institutions.

On the other there have been reports of teachers outnumbering the number of students in some schools and while such cases seem to be of the past, no one can really say whether this trend continues or not.

Rationalise the posting and transfer of Government school teachers and this should be the first step towards realising the goal of the School Fagathansi Mission.

School Fagathansi Mission and acute shortage of teachers in schools and the twain shall never meet.