10,000 excess teachers in govt schools: Rio

Urges Court to remove restriction on appointments

Correspondent KOHIMA, NOV 26 (NPN) : State chief minister, Neiphiu Rio said Thursday said there was no shortage of teachers in the state, but rather an excess of about 10,000 teachers as indicated by the current teacher-student ratio of 1:10 as against the national average of 1:30.

He was responding to a starred question during the ninth session of 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly here on Thursday.

Rio described the state ratio as good but only problem being lack of adequate teachers for math and science subjects. The chief minister informed that an exercise was being carried out to identify schools having no enrolment but teachers posted and also schools where teachers outnumber students. Rio said such schools will have to be clubbed together and teachers redeployed. He urged the members to identify any issue in their area and give support and suggestions “correctly and not politically”.

The chief minister also noted that the cabinet had banned appointments during Covid-19 pandemic but, since the pandemic has eased, the ban was lifted. However, between the process of scrutinising vacancies in each department coupled with NSF’s demand for NSSB and ENPO’s demand for 45% reservation, a case was filed and the court banned all appointments.

He said that till today, the government was struggling with the issue of appointment and urged upon members to give the government some time to resolve the issue. Rio also said that the government has appealed to Gauhati High Court, Kohima Bench to remove restrictions on fresh appointments in various government departments.

PWD (M&H) minister Tongpang Ozukum claimed that there were excess teachers in urban areas as nobody wanted to go to rural areas. He said teachers would be redeployed in schools where there was shortage. Highlighting the challenges faced by the department, school education advisor KT Sukhalu said appointment could be made only after the ban was lifted by the court. NPF legislator Yitachu expressed concern over shortage of teachers in primary schools and urged the government to look into the matter so that schools in the state would be able to run with full strength.

NPF legislature party leader, TR Zeliang also echoed the same concern and called upon the government to look into the matter of appointments in the School Education Department. He urged the cabinet to take this matter as most important agenda so that the ban is lifted, particularly for the School Education department.

NPF member Imkong L. Imchen also opined that appointments in and school education and medical departments needed to be exempted from the purview of the ban.

Tizu-Zungki Inland Waterways: Transport, civil aviation, railways and land resources adviser P Paiwang Konyak informed the members that the transport department had requested Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways to sanction funds for early implementation of the first phase of the Tizu-Zungki Inland Waterways project.

Replying to a starred question by Yitachu, Paiwang claimed that Union minister of ports, shipping and waterways Sarbananda Sonowal had asked him during a meeting to submit prioritised proposal to begin the project.

Paiwang said detailed project report (DPR) prepared by M/s WAPCOS in accordance with the guideline of Central Sector Scheme for Inland Waterway Transport had been finalised, adding the project would be implemented in three phases.

He said the Tizu-Zungki river was declared as a National Waterway-101 as per the National Waterway Act on March 26, 2016. However, he pointed out that the project could not be taken up due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Claiming that the waterway would serve as a corridor for South East Asia, Paiwang said the waterways would be beneficial for districts like Phek and Meluri whose high deposits of granite, marble and limestone could be shipped to international markets. He said ships too would be coming in with finished goods and essential materials for the North-eastern States.

Legislator TR Zeliang questioned why the project was not taken up before the pandemic, especially at least three years ago, since it was declared in 2016 and also called for submission of the DPR as soon as possible. To this, Paiwang replied that Nagaland Inland Waterways Board was constituted only on August 6, 2021.

Avangkhu into trade centre: Chief minister Neiphiu Rio assured the House the State government would continue to pursue and develop Avangkhu (IBTC) into a trade centre.

Replying to a starred question by Yitachu, he acknowledged that progress of Avangkhu (IBTC) was slow due to the distance factor, for which activities were not going in full strength. He revealed that the work order amount was Rs 94,73,000 and Rs 75,73,000 was released, while Rs 19,00,000 was withheld.

Rio said the project was reviewed on February 7, 2013 and it was found that only 70% of the work was complete. He said the project was again reviewed on March 26, 2021 and it was found that construction of internal main and approach road and plot development work were incomplete.

Mentioning that construction of guard house was incomplete, he said ASIDE funding was delinked from support of the Centre. He said due to fund constraint, the department could not pay the withheld amount.

27 RD blocks sans banks: Replying to a starred question by NPF legislator Yitachu on the number of RD blocks in the State without banks, Rio, who is also in-charge of finance department, said there were 27 RD blocks in the State without banks.

Replying to another query regarding government’s plan to open bank branches in each of the RD blocks, he said the issue was being monitored and reviewed through the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) chaired by chief secretary with important State government departments and all banks operating in the State represented in the committee.

He said the proposal of opening bank branches in unbanked RD blocks have been given to the banks by SLBC. However, he remarked that opening of bank branches depended entirely on the assessment and decision of the respective banks.

Rio disclosed that through SLBC meetings, the State government was reviewing the matter and emphasising on the need to open branches by the banks expeditiously.

Informing the House that allottee banks had positioned business correspondents in some unbanked blocks, including Aghunaqa, Chulikha and West Ralan, he added that the banks were also making efforts to position bank correspondents in all unbanked RD blocks.

He disclosed that the banks were also doing their best to place business correspondents at consumer points to provide basic banking services in all the unbanked areas.

Through this, Rio said some basic banking services like opening of savings bank account, withdrawal of money through micro ATMs placed at service points and making deposits would become easier.

Mentioning that the NLA would be passing a resolution on the SARFAESI Act, he hoped that after this, the banks would come forward to help local entrepreneurs and rural populace.

He said the credit to deposit (CD) ratio of Nagaland was at 49.62 as on September 3, 2021, while the national average was 70.5. He said even out of the 49.62 CD ratio, loans were extended mostly to government employees in the form of housing or car loans, while there was no provision for business activities since banks did not accept mortgaging of houses or other property.

He informed the members that the government was aware of the issue and was therefore trying its best to ensure that financial institutions come forward to help in the growth of a vibrant economy.

Yitachu pointed that since all the system of channelising government activities was done through banks, he stressed that it was important that the government comes up with steps to take up the issue.

Earlier, the ninth session of 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) began with the Speaker Sharingain Longkumer welcoming the new members to the house.

The speaker also made obituary references to former legislators Pongchailenba Konyak, Chüpfhüo Kense, Lhiweshielo Mero, Kihoto Hollohon and Khuosatho Nyusou.

Source: http://www.nagalandpost.com/10-000-excess-teachers-in-govt-schools-rio/245364.html