Three student unions in Manipur, the All Tribal Students Union Manipur (ATSUM), the Kuki Students Organisation (KSO) and the All Naga Students Association Manipur (ANSAM), have drawn the attention of the state government to settle various issues facing the tribal populace in the state. They warned that they will no longer remain silent if the state government continues to neglect their demands.
Their several demands include regularisation of primary and graduate teachers who were recruited in 2006, recruitment of new lecturers for colleges and in state administrations, among others.
The representatives of the state government in the last meeting with student bodies on August 13, 2019 at the chief minister’s chamber agreed to fulfil certain demands made by the student bodies, ATSUM president Seiboi Haokip said while briefing the media at ATSUM’s office in Imphal on Monday.
In 2020, the student bodies apprised the chief minister regarding the demands of the student bodies, wherein the chief minister assured to fulfil them in 2021. However, the issues raised by the student bodies have not been addressed till date, Seiboi added.
Seiboi said primary and graduate teachers recruited 2006 have not been regularised yet though there is a provision to regularise them.
In 2019, the chief minister assured the student bodies that the regularisation of the teachers would be discussed in the cabinet meeting, he said.
However, before regularisation of the said teachers, the Education(s) department issued a notification to recruit new primary and graduate teachers on contract basis, said Seiboi and demanded that the teachers of 2006 should be first regularised.
In August 2019, the state government also agreed to recruit 46 MIL lecturers within two months but the same has not been recruited till date, said Seiboi while adding that the backlog of 166 scheduled tribe assistant professors has not been recruited yet.
Seiboi said that there are no B Ed centres in the hill districts till date though the state government in 2017-18 announced to introduce the centres in two hill districts.
The state government also assured to take up steps to convert Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Makhan into full-fledged university but no concrete steps have been taken up till date, he added.
The unions’ demand for filling up vacant posts in the directorate of Tribal Affairs and Hills has not been materialised yet despite the assurance from the state government to fill up the vacant posts, said Seiboi.
There are also many ST backlogs in recruitment of different posts at Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS), he added.
