In a surprise visit made by the Deputy Commissioner of Longleng, Dharam Raj, IAS, at Government High School Sakshi under Longleng district, five teachers/staff at GHS Sakshi were either found absent from work or using substitute/proxy teachers.
A letter to the Principal Director of School Education written on 23 August stated that the discoveries were made during a surprise visit by the DC on 22 August.
It has also come to light that a school teacher reportedly working as a principal at a college in Dimapur was one of the staff members of Government High School Sakshi.
“It was also found after a brief enquiry that Sentisangla, Graduate Teacher, is reported to have been serving as a principal in a private college in Dimapur despite being an appointee of a govt service which amounts to be a serious indiscipline under Nagaland Government Servants Conduct Rules, 1968,” the letter read.
Thavaseelan K, Principal Director of School Education said Show Cause Notices have been served to the five erring teachers of GHS Sakshi, Longleng. He said the five teachers had reported to the office today to clarify on the issue and that the department would be initiating further course of action.
Following the discovery of one of the teachers serving as a principal in a college in Dimapur, he informed that the department is coordinating with the Deputy Commissioner of Dimapur to establish facts to send the report to the department.
Thavaseelan disclosed that cases of proxy teachers in Longleng district seemed to be on a higher side and the department so far has altogether detected 20 cases of proxy teachers from across the state: 12 cases of proxy teachers in Longleng inclusive of the five erring teachers detected on 22 August, two in Wokha, two in Mon, and four cases in Tuensang. He said that Show Cause Notices have been served to the twenty erring teachers, and charges are being framed to be initiated against them as they have admitted to their wrong doings.
He also informed that the Department of School Education is writing to all the Deputy Commissioners seeking for assistance in identifying and weeding out cases of proxy teachers from their respective districts.
To curb on the system of proxy teachers in the state, Thavaseelan said that as part of the World Bank project there is going to be a system called the ‘Teachers Attendance Monitoring system’ which will be deployed in all the schools later this year or early next year.
“We will use a combination of advance technologies to ensure and tell us in real time whether the teacher who is supposed to be there is there or not. This will eventually completely curb the system of proxy teachers and we are looking to deploy in some time later this year or early next year.”
