In the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh, a 24-hour bandh led by a student organization in protest of 11 teachers who refused to report to work caused chaos in daily life, which an official stated on Wednesday had “affected academic environment.” The All West Kameng District Students’ Union (AWKDSU) led the bandh, which started at 5 a.m. on Tuesday and ended at 5 a.m. on Wednesday. Officer-in-charge of the Bomdila police station According to Sub Inspector H B Tator, the bandh ended amicably and without any unfortunate incidents.
Government offices saw little attendance on Tuesday, and stores and commercial buildings throughout the district stayed closed. Due to the bandh, both private and public vehicles stayed off the roads. The bandh did not apply to students taking exams that were held every six months. On July 20 of this year, 11 teachers were relocated to West Kameng, and their refusal to report for duty prompted the bandh. According to Khambo Sakrinsow, president of AWKDSU, just one of the twelve moved instructors joined his place of assignment. He claimed that after the four district MLAs promised to settle the issue with the state government, the organization postponed the bandh until September 17. Akrinsow voiced his displeasure with the MLAs’ and the Education Department’s failure to carry out their duties, claiming that the absence of teachers had negatively impacted the learning environment for pupils. He threatened to use a 48-hour bandh in the near future, stating that the students’ body would not let up until all of the instructors joined their posting locations. The Education Department ordered the posting and transfer of 203 teachers on July 20 of this year. Many instructors, however, were reluctant to leave their current postings; some even produced medical certifications and used the pretext of joint posting of spouses and children’s schooling.
In a related incident, the Education Department has kept 45 teachers (who are not under the medical board’s jurisdiction) after partially changing its order.
The teachers were kept on for a variety of reasons, including child education, spouses posting together, impending retirement, and more than one transfer in a six-month period.
