Phulbari: When you think of education, does Garo Hills come to mind? Unlikely.
Despite producing the state’s tallest leaders who have ruled Meghalaya for years, the region’s education levels are best illustrated by the fact that one school, the Jawaharlal Nehru HS School in Phulbari in West Garo Hills, stands head and shoulders above other schools. This is, after all, a region where schools have been abandoned for decades and as our stories have shown, quality primary education is a luxury, and education infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired.
Amid such dreariness, more than 1,500 students from the JNHS prove that even rural schools, provided with the right impetus, can bring about excellent results.
So it came as some surprise when the recruitment process undertaken by the School Managing Committee (SMC) in 2022 botched the recruitment of 5 critical new teachers meant to benefit students. These job openings came about after the retirement of a few teachers and others leaving for greener pastures.
The recruitment process began in August 2022. But everything that followed made no sense to anyone familiar with the recruitment process in government schools. The recruitment was completed within a day and provisional appointment letters were handed out to the successful candidates on the day of the interview.
Surprisingly, the candidates’ interviews were overseen by the Sub Divisional School Education Officer of Dadenggre and the Divisional School Education Officer of the West Garo Hills, who should have put their foot down on the matter and not stood by. The former MLA of Phulbari, SG Esmatur Mominin, is the school president while Rafikul Mondal is the secretary.
Advertisements for the five posts: 3 in Arts and 2 in the Science stream for JNHSS were floated in August seeking applications.
After the advertisement, more than 60 job aspirants, including a 6th rank holder in B-Ed from the NEHU, applied. However, of the 60, the five who got the jobs defied logic.
“It caused a lot of consternation locally as everyone knew that except for maybe one candidate, the rest would not be employed even in their private schools. Deserving candidates were denied a chance to allow for these candidates to be provided the jobs. How can open schools hold more value than regular institutions? The secretary, the DSEO and other members of the SMC rigged the process,” said a local from Phulbari.
What is fascinating is that the school principal, who should have been a member of the interview board, was not even invited to the interviews, while the secretary, Moni Mondal, with no educational background, was marking science papers in which his daughter was recruited. On expected lines, she got the job as did those they wished to favour.
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“If this is not a mockery of education, nothing is. How can someone with no education be part of the board and mark papers? Since his daughter had applied, he had no moral right to be on the interview panel at all. This is what happens when politics becomes part of the deficit school system. This is shameful,” added another resident.
“We don’t mind not getting the job, but to give it to those not qualified to teach students makes it hard to digest. All this occurred despite protests from other candidates and residents. A NIOS-based education gives you a degree, not a teaching career. When there were so many regular qualified teachers, why were they denied?” asked a resident.
Following the recruitment, Mostafizur Rahman, a local, filed a case challenging the SMC’s decision on recruitment. When questioned, Principal Mahmud Mondal stated he could not comment as the matter is currently sub-judice.
“We will await a decision by the Court into the matter as it is already out of our hands,” he said when contacted.
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